Interdisciplinary Communication and Patient Safety
Effective communication between patient and clinician is an important aspect to patient care. Proper communication has a direct positive impact on patient care and adversely poor communication has a direct negative impact on patient care. I will define the seven principles of patient-clinician communication and how I apply these communications with my patients. I will also describe the three methods currently being used to improve interdisciplinary communication and the one method that my area of practice currently uses. Then, I will explain the ethical principles that can be applied to issues in patient-clinician communication. And Lastly, the importance of ethics in communication and how patient safety is influenced by good or bad team communication.
Seven Principles of Patient-Clinician Communication There are seven important concepts that are imperative to communicating with patients. The seven concepts are: mutual respect, harmonized goals, a supportive environment, appropriate decision partners, the right information, transparency and full disclosure, and continuous learning (Paget et al., 2012). The first principle is mutual respect.
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Understanding that all patients needed to be treated justly and given the opportunity to make decisions in their care is important. Not causing harm and preventing them from harm is also the duty of health care workers. These ethical principles are essential to keep in mind with interdisciplinary communication. Ineffective communication has been associated with medical errors, patient harm, and increase length of stay. Failure to communicate properly has been associated with 79% of sentinel events (Dingley, Daugherty, Derieg & Persing, 2008). Good communication has been shown to improve patient satisfaction, increase in patient safety, as well as a decrease in health care costs (Paget et al.,
rofessionals from different disciplines collaborating to provide care to patients. Effectively coordinated and collaborative inter-professional teams are essential to the care and treatment of patients (Rowlands & Callen, 2013; Doyle, 2008; Ruhstaller, Roe, Thürlimann & Nicoll, 2006; Simpson & Patton, 2012, p. 300). Communication is a process of conferring information between individuals through use of speech, writing or various other means, and is critical to the success of a multidisciplinary team (MDT) (Higgs, McAllister & Sefton, 2012, p. 5; Rowlands & Callen, 2013; Sargeant, Loney & Murphy, 2008). An MDT must use multiple strategies to enhance communication and ensure their success (Doyle, 2008). An effective MDT generates opportunities that benefit healthcare, which is the reason for the recent dominance of inter-professional care in health practice (Simpson & Patton, 2012, p. 300; Rowlands & Callen, 2013). Many barriers prevent effective communication within inter-professional teams. Lack of communication within MDTs presents challenges to their success, leading to numerous consequences, including the failure of the MDT (London Deanery, 2012; Sargeant et al, 2008). Communication between professionals is the key factor underpinning the potential success or failure of inter-professional teams, the outcome of the functioning of MDTs will either benefit or impair care of patients.
“Physicians and other health care professionals all agree on the importance of effective communication among the members of a health care team. However, there are many challenges associated with effective interprofessional (between physicians and other health care providers) communication, and these difficulties sometimes lead to unfavourable patient outcomes” (Canadian Medical Protection Association, 2011 p. 11).
Effective Communication is a vital trait possessed by healthcare staff, this consents staff to successfully identify a patient as an individual and as a whole, and provide a full holistic approach to care. (Rankin,2013) states that The 6Cs consist of important qualities that nurses and healthcare staff should portray in the way that they work. Displaying these classifications helps to aid staff in the building of relationships, and signifies how they can effectively relate to their patients and colleagues. Evidence suggests that there are several barriers which can prohibit communication being received accurately. These factors comprise of physical, perceptual, emotional, cultural, language, gender and interpersonal barriers (Williams,2001). Communication hu...
Communication encompasses a wide range of processes such as the exchange of information, listening, posing of questions (Fleischer et al., 2009) or use of body language. In a healthcare environment where there are constant interactions among nurses, doctors, patients and other health professionals, professional and effective communication is important in ensuring high quality healthcare standards and meeting the individual needs of patients.
Furthermore it’s very important not to judge the patient pertaining to what they may have to say. Good communication helps nurses build a relationship with their patient. Linking my personal experience from the clinical area relates to the practical side of nursing. It is necessary for communication between the nurse and the patient to be clear, understandable, appropriate and
Communication plays a major role in preventing and resolving behavior problems and enhancing your patient’s quality of life by allowing them to feel, even when they no longer know or recognize those around them that they are in the midst of people who care about them and are concerned about their physical and emotional well being.
The more health care professionals collaborate, the more knowledge is used, and patient safety can be maintained. Communication is related to interprofessional collaboration, because health care professionals collaborate with each other about the patient through communicating with each other. “Collaboration among nurses, physicians, and other members of the care team can improve the outcomes of care for patients” (Engel & Prentice, 2013; IOM, 2010).
According to Boykin “Caring is the foundation of nursing” (Boykin et al, 2011), and it is the nurses’ responsibility to understand what it means to be caring toward patients, which can be achieved through having professional communication skills. Not only does not being able to communicate affect the patient, but also it affects how the nurse is able to do his or her job to the best they can. Smith and Pressman say that the Institute of Medicine has released reports, which stress, “good communication is critical to ensuring safe and reliable nursing” (Smith & Pressman, 2010). Bad communication skills have the potential to be more dangerous to the patient and can in tern make a life-threateni...
Effective communication is highlighted as essential for healthcare professionals to meet best practice and to accomplish goals Department of Health (2007). Interprofessional communication enhances patient and family outcomes (Littlechild and Smith, 2013). Poor communication in practice is frequently invoked as the source of catastrophes (Thistlethwaite, 2012), Courtenay and Griffiths (2010) identify that most medication errors occur because of poor communication.
Communication is one area of the survey that shows room for improvement. Lack of effective communication is causing patients to express feelings of dissatisfaction. It also can be noted that inadequate communication has been known to disrupt efficiency of care which can lead to increased length of stay. Finally, poor communication has been determined to be a main factor for sentinel events occurrences. A sentinel event is severe harm or death to a patient due to a detrimental cause or event (Dempsey et al., 2014,
The introduction paragraph gives information on communication and the impact that it has on patient-nurse relationships. It gives the reader an understanding of what is involved in true communication and how that it is a fundamental part of nursing and skills all nurses need. It leads those interested in delivering quality nursing to read on. Showing us the significance that communication makes in the
The patient deserves truth at all time, let alone informed consent. Ethically reasoning, the medical practitioner deserves to accord the patient information and treat them with uttermost care. Recommendations Medical practitioners and the healthcare facility are required to create an environment where nurses and other healthcare practitioners can speak to patients in an open an honest fashion. The government at both levels should encourage better ethics training and communication skills training for all members of the healthcare team to foster better communication with their patients at every level of care. The healthcare facility has to ensure that their ethics framework complies with state and federal statutes with special attention placed on informed consents for the patient.
Patient care involves multiple health professionals with varying educational level and occupational training. During a hospital visit, a patient may interact with many different health professionals, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, etc. Therefore, a common understanding and collaboration across the healthcare team must be established. In addition, as nurses and physicians are key members of the healthcare team, effective communication between the 2 professions is essential. Poor communication and collaboration, and ineffective teamwork can lead to unwanted patient outcomes - adverse events, medical errors, compromises in patient safety, and poor quality care (O'Daniel & Rosenstein, 2008).
“Effective communication is the foundation for any relationship in healthcare…” (Windover, Boissy, Rice, Gilligan, Velez, & Merlino. 2014) Without communication, it is challenging to get things done because no one knows what the other people in the group are thinking. For some, communication does not come naturally. For this reason, there are articles on how to be a better communicator. According to Karie Tennant, and Alisa Marquez, “communication is a two-way process” (2017). In this process one person should be the informer and the other needs to be an active listener. In order to be an active listener this person needs to provide the informer with feedback on what they just said. This way the informer knows the listener was really listening to what they said. The informer also has the job of making what they want to say clear and concise as well as having the correct tone to get the message across. It is always important for one to voice their opinion, but they need to also be respectful of others
The American Medical Association (AMA) developed a Code of Medical Ethics which includes: the patient has a right to obtain and discuss health information related to benefits, risks, and costs of treatment alternatives; patient’s can make decisions pertaining to healthcare suggested by the physician; the patient has the right to courtesy, respect, dignity, and attention to healthcare needs in a timely manner; and the patient has a right to confidentially, continuity, and adequate health care. (emedicinehealth, 2011). Communicating openly and honestly between the patient and doctor will allow both parties to make decisions to properly take care of needs.