Ineffective Communication Among Nurses

“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).

As mentioned by Imhof & Kaskie (2008), communication is very important in the health care organizations that have complex organizational structures. Most of the employees are not able to communicate clearly and this can lead to conflicts which block the employees from providing the quality care the patients need.

In nursing profession, communication is one of the vital interprofessional collaboration competencies. A slack in communication gap will affect effective teamwork in providing efficient patient care delivery. Without integrated cooperation and effective communication, there will be a delinquency in the healthcare system, resulting in

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

On many occasions, I have seen situations in which effective communication involving the professional healthcare team played a vital role in the positive outcome of patient care. On the other hand, there have been miscommunication between the healthcare team resulting in situations that could have been tragic to the patient.

I believe that communication is the main reason problems occur in health care. It is crucial that the health care team works together as a team and communicates any issues or concerns throughout the process of patient care. No matter how many processes are put into place or how many checklists are followed, mistakes are going to be made unless proper communication occurs. Unfortunately, these mistakes are usually at the cost of safe patient care. According to Edwards (2008), “every

How we communicate effects everything we do. Whether talking to patients and family members, speaking in a team meeting, or talking with our children’s teacher at a conference, communication is how we learn information, teach information and express our concerns. With this paper I will discuss; the definitions of healthcare communication, the relevancy of effective personal healthcare communication with other healthcare professionals, clients, and patients, the relevancy of effective professional healthcare

Patient safety, and care are the top priorities for healthcare providers, and that is why communication is greatly encouraged (Coiera, 2006). Examples of communication in the healthcare setting are face-to-face, emails, SBARs, rounds, phone calls, and meetings (Coiera, 2006). In order to disseminate information regarding the change topic, it is crucial for the stakeholders to practice good communication skills. Nurses for example give report to nurses through an SBAR, which is great because they can explain to the incoming nurse how the patient, and parent reacting to the skin-to-skin contact care (Daughtery et al., n.d). Not only is it essential for these stakeholders to communicate in the various ways listed, but it is important that they are trained, and educated enough to be able to support the

Professional health care communication generates positive outcomes when participants establish relationships using the fundamental elements of respect, honesty, and mutual control to create open lines of communication. Establishing a symmetrical level of control between health care professionals allows everyone to share equal control of the relationship. In this setting members are vital participants on the health care team allowing members to share thoughts, concerns, and suggestions freely in the effort to accomplish goals to improve patient care, and produce healthy outcomes. Effective communication is necessary when collaborating in groups with other health care professionals. To reach positive outcomes participants need to participate actively with the other members sharing insight, concerns, and solutions assertively. On the floor health care professionals use effective communication to delegate assignments to other health care professionals, provide feedback, and establish relationships with management. Proficiency in these areas facilitates the proper functioning of the unit, competency of the employees, and maintains an open communication network with the leaders of the floor.

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.

Being able to communicate helps to prevent unsafe practice and increases patient safety. Staff to staff communication errors have been identified as the root cause of 20 percent of sentinel events in public hospital settings. It is important to be able to communicate with your team members and team leader so that you can communicate pertinent information effectively and quickly (Mater Health Services Brisbane Limited

Effective communication is another important element in teamwork and collaboration in healthcare setting. Listening to everybody’s ideas and concerns and using effective strategies for resolving conflicts among coworkers, will create a better work environment in the

Proper communication techniques such as the one that support Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation and Request (SBAR) should be used. Nurses must also remain vigilant when speaking with physicians and relaying verbal orders. Such orders should be done through the use of closed- looped communication with fewer errors and sentinel outcomes observe (TeamSTEPPS 2.0,

Communication is an interactive process involving the verbal or non-verbal transmission of information between others. Effective communication skills are important in everyday life and are a basic and essential to the establishment of quality of care in nursing and vital to the development of a therapeutic relationship between a nurse and the individual (Funnell, R, et al, 2009). According to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, under section 9.2 of the National Competency Standards for the registered nurse, the registered nurse has a duty to communicate effectively with individuals/groups to assist a provision of care (2010). However at times effective communication is not always portrayed and important information is not clearly understood. Therefore the individual may not get the correct treatment or medication, discontinuity of care, adverse events and legal claims of negligence (Anderson L, 2013), consequently patient safety is affected.

Although there are existing English language proficiency tests approved by regulatory bodies to evaluate the language proficiency of IENs, the result does not usually correspond to the expectations of employers (Neiterman & Bourgeault, 2013). A stakeholder in the study of Neiterman and Bourgeault (2013) mentioned: “…And [often even if] they have passed their English assessment they are not seen as meeting the … level of functioning that the employer wants…” (p. 96). IENs who met the minimum qualifications to be considered as proficient in using the English language does not necessarily mean that they are already proficient communicating in the healthcare environment (Tregunno et al. 2009). Lum et al. (2015) indicated that communicating