Collaboration of nursing & pumping

 Collaboration of nursing & pumping

Pharmacists create a genuinely collaborative and team-oriented environment when they help interview and select nursing leaders, and vice versa. Involving stakeholders from other departments in the hiring and recruitment process can align the organization’s goals toward a true multidisciplinary approach to patient care.

Improving collaboration between pharmacists and nurses will indeed increase job satisfaction, but patients are the ones who truly benefit. When pharmacists and nurses effectively reconcile patient medications, patient safety gets better. 

While nurses maintain a comprehensive view of the patient's healthcare needs, including family and social factors, the pharmacist is in a unique position to oversee medications, often from multiple prescribers. Pharmacists evaluate appropriate doses and duration of medicine and interactions with other medications, assess cost alternatives, manage side effects, and monitor chronic health conditions.

Regular interdisciplinary meetings provide an opportunity to troubleshoot problems and brainstorm solutions. These discussions allow all parties to express their concerns and understand the workflow and processes that affect others. Nurses may primarily focus on the delay of medication delivery, while the pharmacy may require additional time to prepare certain items. When each party understands the other’s stressors, they can work together to find a resolution. 

At times nurses and pharmacists use different terminology. So it’s necessary to ensure clearer and more effective communication that is free of acronyms. For example, a nurse ordering a medication ASAP likely means that the medication is needed immediately, while a pharmacist may interpret the request as one to be fulfilled with the next medication delivery. Miscommunications like this can be avoided by highlighting a specific time that the medication is required.