The healthcare team

As a nursing assistant, you will work as a part of an interdisciplinary healthcare team. A healthcare team is a group of people from various fields who work together to provide holistic client care, meaning caring for their physical and emotional needs.

Alright, there are several members of the healthcare team and all their roles are important and complementary to one another. Healthcare team members include the physician, or doctor; dietician; pharmacist; physical therapist; laboratory technician; cleric; social worker; occupational therapist; nurse; advanced practice nurse; and nursing assistant.

Let’s start with physicians, who diagnose and treat diseases. The type of diseases physicians treat varies based on their medical speciality.

For example, cardiologists treat diseases of the heart, such as myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack. Pulmonologists, on the other hand, treat lung diseases, such as lung infections, also known as pneumonia.

There are also surgical specialties that use surgery to treat people’s conditions, such as cardiac surgery and neurological surgery.

Another member of the healthcare team is the dietician, or the nutritionist, who evaluates the nutritional needs of the clients and teaches them about those needs.

Next is the pharmacist, who dispenses prescribed drugs for clients and provides consultation on drug selection and possible interactions between drugs.

Also, there’s the physical therapist whose main job is the rehabilitation of the clients, which means restoring their normal level of function and movement after an illness or an accident.

A laboratory technician is the one who collects specimens from the clients, such as blood, stool, and urine, and runs various tests and reports their results.

Now, as a part of holistic care, a cleric supports the spiritual needs of the client. Also, a social worker helps clients in dealing with emotional, social, and any other issues that affect their condition.

Occupational therapists also play a key role in the rehabilitation of clients, especially related to activities of daily living.

One important component of the healthcare team is the nursing team, which works to carry out healthcare providers’ orders and provide nursing care for the clients.

Now, the nursing team consists of nurses and nursing assistants. The nurse can be a registered nurse, or RN; a licensed practical nurse, or LPN, also known in some states as a licensed vocational nurse, or LVN; and an advanced practice registered nurse, or APRN.