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Developing effective communication in nursing
The need for effective communication in healthcare
The need for effective communication in healthcare
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As a registered nurse (RN) what are the most common barriers you deal with when working with licensed practical nurse’s (LPN)? This is the question that was asked of registered nurse AD (interviewee). AD graduated from the British Columbia Institute of Technology and has been a registered nurse for eight years. When asked this question, AD hesitated only for a moment and stated “teamwork and communication are the biggest areas of difficulty I have noticed on the teams I work with.” The purpose of this paper is to discuss barriers to effective communication and teamwork in the workplace as well as strategies to help prevent future concerns. As well, there will be a brief discussion on some of the perceptions that RN’s have regarding the role …show more content…
Good communication encourages collaboration and helps prevent errors. Strategies to help promote good communication and collaboration should include concepts such as self-awareness, creating opportunities for different ideas to come together and clarifying communication. “Respecting the views of other disciplines and communicating in an organized, thoughtful manner has an impact on how practitioners from other disciplines perceive the nurse’s role and value as a competent health care professional” (Arnold & Boggs, 2011). AD identified strategies such as; resourcefulness, teachable moments, a good work ethic and strong leadership as being important to her teams as well. Teams that are effective are characterized by common purpose and intent, trust, respect, and collaboration. Team members value familiarity over formality and watch out for each other to make sure mistakes are not made. A collaborative experience shared by AD, was working with an LPN that was diligent in asking questions and providing information to AD and other team members. This LPN was also good at listening to what others had to say and incorporating suggestions into her care practices. AD believes that because this LPN did her job in regards to knowing her abilities and communicating relevant information that potential near misses were avoided. AD felt that because of this LPN’s …show more content…
Communication and teamwork could be considered the bedrock to building a strong foundation for any team oriented atmosphere. If there is miscommunication or poor communication, patient outcomes are going to be affected and staff will start losing trust and respect in each other. If there is no teamwork then patients are not being cared for properly, and staff become resentful and upset about unfair workload. Good communication encourages collaboration and helps prevent errors. Fostering an environment of trust, respect, accountability, open communication, assertiveness and shared decision making can bring significant improvements to the team
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.
Cultivating teamwork is vital in the fast-moving pace of the Emergency Department. One of the most important ways to cultivate this process is through developing a plan of communication with the team. According to L.J. Hood, communication is “…the dynamic interaction between two or more persons in which ideas, goals, beliefs and values, feelings, and feelings about feelings are exchanged. Even very brief communication exchanges may change all involved parties” (Hood, 2014, P.81). In many scenarios some nurses and staff members are unwilling to be those team players that are needed in a busy nursing unit, and many times nurses and staff will not communicate professionally at all. In these situations, some nurses and staff will require coaching sessions on how to communicate, and in worst case scenarios some nurses and staff, who are unwilling to communicate professionally, will be asked to leave the team
Mindful communication is one of the most powerful tools a nurse can use when delegating responsibility to an unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP). In order to effectively delegate patient care to the UAP, the nurse must use the right communication. The right communication provides safe, quality outcomes for the nurse, the UAP, the patient, and the facility. The processes at the core of communication that are suggested to improve synchronization of a care team are effective, patient-centered, timely, and equitable care (Anthony & Vidal, 2010, p. 1). The registered nurse (RN) must assume responsibility for delegation, as well as client outcome. This makes it important for the RN to foster an open, truthful, and trusting environment with coworkers. Even the smallest piece of information left out of, or misinterpreted in
“Communication is the heart of nursing… your ability to use your growing knowledge and yourself as an instrument of care and caring and compassion” (Koerner, 2010, as cited in Balzer-Riley, 2012, p. 2). The knowledge base which Koerner is referring to includes important concepts such as communication, assertiveness, responsibility and caring (Balzer-Riley, 2012). Furthermore, communication is complex. It includes communication with patients, patient families, doctors, co-workers, nurse managers and many others. Due to those concepts and the variety of people involved, barriers and issues are present. Knowing how to communicate efficiently can be difficult.
Vance (2011) states, “Nursing cannot be learned or carried out in isolation. Learning about nursing and being a nurse is clearly a ‘team sport” (p.15). In nursing communication and mentorship are vital. Effective communication allows us, as nurses, to successfully talk with other members of the health care team and look for solutions to problems. Mentorship is another aspect, in which we must experienced nurses must teach and train new nurses so they can adequate the skills. Nursing is a profession where we gain skills through experience and collaborating with others. Nursing is not “one man/women job,” nurses must work and depend on one another in order to utilize their full potential. Nurses are teams in the hospital setting that work together to
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.
Working in the health care setting, teamwork and collaboration are used frequently to insure that everything runs correctly and efficiently. According to qsen.org, teamwork and collaboration consists of functioning effectively within nursing and inter-professional teams, fostering open communication, mutual respect, and shared decision-making to achieve quality patient care. While assessing the patient a nurse can come into contact and work with many different individuals. These can include other nurses, doctors, therapists, and family
To attain this goal, nurses must work in collaboration with other members of the health care team. To improve efficiency, the health care environment must foster the development of collaborative relations among health care professionals. Trust, open communication, commitment, and shared goals must be present to support collaborative relations and effective teamwork. Health care organizations continue to place a greater demand on health care professionals while often working with limited resources. In a recent study focused on determining if there was a current or impending shortage of nurses in care settings throughout the United States, 81% of the 178 hospitals sampled indicated they have or are an... ...
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).
Communication and collaboration are an integral part of interprofessional health care teams. There could be possible barriers to communication and collaboration that could affect the entire team’s success. Personal values and expectation, personality differences, culture and ethnicity, and gender could affect how some individuals respond according to a patient’s care or needs(O’Daniel, 2008). For example, if someone comes from a background where they refrain from being assertive or challenging opinions openly, it could be difficult for that person to speak up if they think differently from the other team members. The differences in language and jargon can also be an obstacle to teams especially if members are not familiar with a specific type
As we continue our education, working towards attaining our advanced practice nursing (APN) training, it is essential for us as graduate students and future APNs to be collaborative members of our practice. There is an array of literature, not only in the field of nursing that discusses collaboration and its importance. Forbes (2014) for example, has identified eight tips for collaborative leadership to support businesses in excelling. The field of nursing especially highlights collaboration as an essential aspect to providing adequate and competent care to each patient (Hamrick, Tracy, & O’Grady). Additionally, Fewster-Thuente (2015) in their review of literature found, “lack of effective collaboration has been cited as the root cause of over 70% of major medical errors and costs the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services over $4 billion annually.”
Collaboration is a complex process that requires intentional knowledge sharing and joint responsibility for patient care. Sometimes it occurs within long-term relationships between health professionals. Within long-term relationships, collaboration has a developmental trajectory that evolves over time as team members leave or join the group and/or organization structures change. On other occasions, collaboration between nurses and physicians may involve fleeting encounters in patient arenas (Lindeke PhD RN, CNP, & Sieckert, BAN,
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
Robinson, F. P., Gorman, G., Slimmer, L., & Yudkowsky, R. (2010). Perceptions of effective and ineffective nurse–physician communication in hospitals.Nursing Forum, 45(3), 206-216.
“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