Effective Communication in the Emergency Department: Implications on Patient Safety Culture

Awareness should be built among the doctors and nurses on the risks of medical errors owing to miscommunications. This can be done by periodically doing policy review sessions on patient safety.

Communication in the healthcare field may be a little different for some people. Healthcare requires the communication to have a purpose, and that purpose is revolved around a person’s needs. A patient with good staff communication during

Searches were made through the online library at Grand Canyon University. Results were refined to include on peer reviewed studies with keywords as combinations of: Safety briefing (45 results), patient safety plus nursing plus communication (1769), patient safety and interdisciplinary (45). Of the results obtained, the list was further refined to those studies that discussed the issue of communication in a team environment and risk of errors, or leadership follow up. Studies were not included if they were considered to be out of scope for the issue. Ultimately ten articles were identified as being pertinent to the subject, or had conclusions that could be extrapolated to the issue in question. From these search results four studies have been chosen for this paper to support the relevance of the issue.

Given the complexity of healthcare system today, effective and efficient collaboration and communication among team members is critical to ensure patient safety. Daniel & Rosentein (2008) reported that during a typical patient’s hospital stay, a patient may interact with 50 different employees that may include doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians, etc. They also reported that when healthcare professional are not communicating and collaborating effectively, patient safety is at risk for several reasons: break in communication flow, misinterpretation of information, incorrect telephone orders and overlooked orders.

“Errors in communication give rise to substantial clinical morbidity and mortality (Riesenberg, Leitzsch, & Cunningham, 2010).” As a result, the Joint Commission has identified effective communication as one of its National Patient Safety Goals (Dunsford, 2009).

In preparation of a review from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) Nightingale Community Hospital will focus on improving its communication process in the operating room. The purpose of communication in the healthcare setting is to disseminate information in such a way as to create shared understanding about the patient and about what needs to be done for a positive outcome. (synergia.com) A patient is at his most vulnerable state during procedures that require sedation or anesthesia. The patient is releasing his decision making ability and safety into the control and care of the healthcare team. Therefore, effective communication on behalf of the patient is

Interdepartmental communication and medical errors have both been proven as causes of harm to patients in health care settings. When there are gaps in communications between nurses changing shifts or patient transitions from one department to another, medical errors can occur and cause harm to patients. Even though there has been improvement in recognition of these problems and actions taken to reduce communication gaps and medical errors, there still needs to be more work, especially in individual facilities.

‘Clear and complete communication between health care providers is a prerequisite for safe patient management. Which is a major priority of the Joint Commission's 2008 National Patient Safety Goals and long-term care (LCT). (Commission, 2008)

Effective communication is one of the utmost characteristics of a high-quality health care model that responds to the existing needs of the general population. However, communication may sometimes be taken for granted and therefore fail to relay important information between health care providers within the interprofessional team. In today’s health care setting, communication is particularly challenging due to the limited time constrain in the workplace. In spite of the utilization of existing charts and documentation, errors are made. In this paper, a real life clinical scenario is discussed which involved a breakdown of

It has been shown that poor levels of communication in a hospital setting increases death rates. Thus, a study reported in November of 2007 “American Journal of Critical Care” discovered that improved communication between medical professionals, nurses and their patients resulted in fewer medication errors and therefore over ¾ of hospital deaths. (Knaus, W. A 2007)

Communication plays a vital role in the healthcare setting, as the relationship with the healthcare professional sets the tone of the care experience and has a powerful impact on patient satisfaction. It is “the shared process in which messages are sent and received between two or more people which are made up of a sender, receiver, and message in a particular context” (cite, date). This essay highlights the importance of, and some common barriers to, effective communication in the healthcare setting. It involves many interpersonal skills such as effective observation, questioning and listening, giving feedback, recognizing and removing barriers.

A weakness in communication between interdisciplinary team members can impact patient safety and health . A recent study revealed that out of all the claims analyzed , 57 percent of malpractice cases reflected miscommunication between two or more healthcare providers (Riah, 2015). In fact, the same communication failures directly linked to 1,744 deaths over the past five years (Budryk, 2016). During my clinical placement this semester I have witnessed the overwhelming number of health care team members that are involved in each patient’s care. I also take part in morning nursing rounds where all nurses are updated on every patient’s status. Transmission of permanent patient information is also relayed to all members of the health team via the patient chart .Here , interdisciplinary notes all come together to form updated health information on patients. However, although I have read interdisciplinary notes from all team members , I rarely have had the opportunity to personally communicate with members other than doctors and nurses. Personal communication allows for a team member to pass on relevant information in a timely manner without the possibility or misinterpretations. When communication is strictly done non-verbally, it is impossible to ask any questions.. This is why communication between professionals in health care is essential for patient safety and improved quality of care (Koivunen, Niemi., & Hupli,2015). There are 3 main factors that cause miscommunication

“Extensive research has shown that no matter how knowledgeable a clinician might be, if he or she is not able to open good communication with the patient, he or she may be of no help” (Asnani, MR. 2009). Effective communication plays a big role in healthcare and contributes to the quality of patient care and teamwork.

Open communication is essential part to a successful healthcare team that directly impacts patient’s lives. In the video “Just a Routine Operation, ” by Laedal Medical Human Factors in Patient Safety, physicians and nurses demonstrates how different human factors contribute to the overall outcome of the patient. Elaine, the patient in the video came into the hospital for a reconstruction surgery. However, during the surgery Elaine had a complication and because the lack of communication, assertiveness, self-awareness, decision-making, teamwork, and prioritization, Elaine did not survive the surgery. This situation shows how important these characteristics are when dealing with emergency care. Even the health care professional with the years

Communication is the leading factor in heath care errors (book). (Treas & Wilkinson Book p463) defines communication as “a dynamic, reciprocal process of sending and receiving messages. The messages may be verbal, non-verbal,