Critically assess how interprofessional collaboration is the key to Essay

Critically assess how interprofessional collaboration is the key to delivering modern health and social care services - Essay Example The complexity of human health which professionals face suggests the need for a reconstruction of how they conceptualize and create knowledge. Further, such knowledge can be deepened through a dialectical process of people reflecting and acting with others to both change and understand it (Gaventa & Cornwall, 2001). In this sense, interdisciplinary structure may allow health professionals to conduct studies and collaboration between them in a research process that would increase the quality of research outcomes. It has been argued that the strength of the inter-professional collaborative research group lies in the framework where contributions from a wide range of professional perspectives are incorporated into the research process (Bond & Thompson, 1996; Ryan & Hassel, 2001). Larson (2003) identified that successful collaborations would comprise a number of multi-professional teams. Similarly, Ryan and Hassell (2001) identified collaboration as the main characteristic of inter-profe ssional research and explained that collaboration across disciplines leads to the identification of health problems through the contribution of respective knowledge and experience from different professionals in a research process with open channels of communication and the absence of professional hierarchies. Drinka and Clark (2000) argued that professional differences between group members have been identified as the basic problem in regards to communication which is one of the most important elements of a successful inter-professional collaboration in research (Gelling & Chatfield, 2001). Poor inter-professional communication, including the system where information is misheard, misread and misunderstood, would break down the working relationship between professionals in groups and affect how professionals work collaboratively in the decision-making and knowledge-producing process. On the other hand, due to professional differences and distincts values and knowledge that each prof essional holds, every member knows less about each other and so it is easy to see the problem of unequal effort in their working relationship and the difficulties in building up a relationship of trust without mutual respect. The lack of trust would limit the sharing of responsibility or workload between professionals which seems inevitable and closely related to the entire research process. Group dynamics can also be a challenge and would distort collective discourse that may generate invalid understanding. As Bray et al. (2000) argued, defensive routines and groupthink would challenge the critical reflection process within the group and the ability to assess the situation from various experience and knowledge bases and build more wide-ranging and objective

National Strategy for Homeland Security Research Paper

National Strategy for Homeland Security - Research Paper Example Anything that presents a threat, whether it is a person or a hurricane, will have no choice but to answer to the Department of Homeland Security before it touches the civilians of America. The Department of Homeland Security was former president George Bush’s response to the attacks of September 11, 2001. The idea behind the DHS was to ensure homeland security and to help prevent further attacks on the United States by outside forces, regardless of where these forces came from or what they consisted of. The official statement that contained the mission of DHS is as follows: â€Å"The mission of the Office will be to develop and coordinate the implementation of a comprehensive national strategy to secure the United States from terrorist threats or attacks. The Office will coordinate the executive branchs efforts to detect, prepare for, prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks within the United States (Department of Homeland Security, 2002).† There are five main responsibilities of the Department of Homeland Security. The first and foremost task is to guard the nation against terrorism. Securing the borders of the country and enforcing immigration laws immediately follow, as these involve keeping out people that could potentially be seeking to initiate terrorism on the country. Improving the readiness for, response to, and recovery from natural disasters make up the missions for the aspect of the department that deals with natural disasters that shake up the everyday lives of citizens. Finally, maturing and unifying the department, which helps to provide the best care for the nation by prompting unity within the department itself. The law enforcement agencies that have been acquired through the creation of the Department of Homeland Security are many, over twenty, and vary in duties and responsibilities.