Nurse-Physician Communication Case Study

Within a health care setting communication is a necessity. This communication not only includes the need for professional communication but also the way in which information is shared to the patient and to other healthcare workers. Another important aspect of health care worker such as a nurse is the effectiveness off a handover. Within the video, Effective Communication in nursing these three aspects of communication (Professional communication, provision of information and handover) were seen and will be analysed further, within this essay. These will be analysed through the three aspects, the care of the patient, the image of the individual nurse and the health outcomes of the patient. All of these three aspects of communication are vitally important to the overall patient needs.

There were even times when the nurse asked us some of the medications and what they do, which we gladly answered. The nurse was very open-minded, and contributed to the conversation really well, without overshadowing the pharmacists. After discussing, we briefly split the questions that we wanted to ask among the three of us. Up until this point, I believed that our team would do well since we prepared ourselves. However, to our surprise, we were not prepared when the patient continuously complained about feeling dizzy, and not being able to breathe. All three of us were not knowledgeable enough to help the patient with his symptoms that he kept complaining about. At first, we attempted to adjust the bed, however, that did not help and made it worse. Not knowing what to do, we tried to persuade the patient to try to focus on the questions that we were about to ask in order to help with his symptoms. When the patient complied, the nurse started asking very general questions about his health and lifestyle. It was a great start until the nurse started asking questions that we were going to ask the patient. In the end, she asked all the questions that we planned to

The interview was conducted with a registered nurse with more than 10 years’ experience. Her current role is working in the Medical Assessment and Planning Unit, in particular, the palliative care area. On a regular basis, her role involves providing safe and quality care to her patients, and more specifically end of life care. In doing so, two predominant skills of communication

He tells her that she believes that the patient has two issues on hand. The first being that the he has been taking too much Acetaminophen and the second the Oxycodone in the Percocet and the high amounts of Diphenhydramine Hcl in his sinus medication is causing increased sedation. According to www.fda.gov the recommended amount of Acetaminophen in 24 hrs is not more that 4000mg or 4 grams. (Use a conversion factor) Taking more that this has been linked to liver disease, which could be the reason for the yellow skin color. Jt has been taking 325mg of Acetaminophen in his Percocet every 4 hrs as well as 650mg of Acetaminophen in his Equate allergy. In combination this places his Acetaminophen dosage at 5,850mg a day which is 1,850mg over the recommended maximum dose. Jt has also been taking 50mg of Diphenhydramine or Benadryl every 4 hrs as well as the narcotic Oxycodone in the Percocet. Both medications are known to make people sleeping, but in combination there will be as increased risk of sedation. While the doctor waits for the lab results he has the staff start and IV and infuses Normal Saline 1000ml over 1 hrs to help dilute the medication in his

My coworker had a 40-year-old patient who came to the hospital for alcohol withdrawal. All the nurses on our floor knew him really well because he visits our hospital frequently. At around 7:30 pm, our telemetry showed that the patient was having a heart rate of 180s to190s. We all were still getting report. Charge nurse went to assess the patient, patient started yelling in a loud voice, throwing pillows and a blanket. It turned out that the patient went to the delirium tremens (DT) phase. He was confused, disoriented, hallucinating, agitated, irritated and had muscle tremor. When reviewing the medication administration record (MAR), charge nurse noticed that CIWA scale was not done as ordered and as a result patient did not get enough Lorazepam

- If the patient has regained consciousness, the doctor will then proceed to ask the patient about the:

During the morning of report from the night nurses, I had been surprised to hear that my patient had been unresponsive and had not been responsive to stimuli. Prior to this, I was unaware that my patient had been in such horrible shape. I did research the previous day and there was no significant evidence within the chart that indicated my patient had been in this vegetative state. Upon entering my patients’ room, I was lost at what to do in order to assess my patient, as he could not respond to me in any way, shape or form. I

Holistic healthcare demands interpersonal collaboration within the nurses and the community for the excellent care of the patient. For example, for a patient suffering from a mental disorder, it is necessary for the nurses to collaborate with each other as well as with the social workers assigned to the patient and his family, which is true if the patient is also a guardian. (Wagner, Liston, & Miller, 2011). The nurses will have to take medical care of the patient while the social worker tends to his social needs such as the welfare of his family. Therefore, it is imperative that the nursing and social work personnel have good communication skills. Communication enhances teamwork that will lead to the caregivers sharing insights and ideas with

One significant problem that must be addressed and resolved quickly is both the conflict and attitude of the doctor. It is well known that physicians’ has had complexes about themselves and have been put on a pedestal when it comes to hierarchy. They have always been hard to communicate to that they never appreciated nurses questioning their decisions. Today thankfully this is changing. MD’s are realizing that the nurses are the forefront of patient care and that they see things before they

Understanding that part of the success in recovering the patient lies in a good communication and it makes part of the success in recovering the patient. Starting the work with the patients, the first one that I consider the vital importance is in the form in which we establish a verbal and non-verbal communication. The first and most important thing I can do for a patient beginning the day is just to smile using a calm and welcoming voice. Then, as a patient care provider, it’s when I begin to develop a close nurse-patient relationship

Physician will ask the patient what symptoms having, when started and what were doing when began. Physician then will evaluate whether these symptoms are still present or disappeared. Assessment to know what medications patient takes before and whether patient has experienced any head injuries at any time (George et al. 2013 and Lewis, et al. 2015).

Thank you Christine for your thoughtful post. I was struck by your reference from Crawford, Omery and Seagopg (2010). I am appreciating the need for effective communication in healthcare now that I am a part of a family utilizing acute care and rehabilitation services. Our biggest frustration has been lack of communication among care providers, nevertheless the family members. Croford, Omery and Seagopg (2010) focused their attention on the physician – nurse communication which resulted in friction and dysfunctional interdisciplinary relationships. Laidsaar-Powell (2012) looked at physician- patient-companion communication as related to decision making. The meta-analysis identified conversation with physician-patient-companion were difficult and helpful. The companion or family member was useful for logistical support and relaying information. “Studies also reveal that companion involvement can lead to positive outcomes” (Laidsaar-Powell, 2012, p. 10). The authors concluded, more evaluation of strategies to improve communication skills training. The concept of the macrosystem depends on the quality of the network of Microsystems, seem to fit in your example (Nelson, et. al, 2002). Effective communication must occur at the micro system in order for the macro system to be effective.

Pharmacist also looked at the current medication regimen and assess the appropriateness of such regimen and ask question such as, are her medical conditions optimally manage by pharmacological and nonpharmacological therapy. In light of her current condition, does the medication regimen need to be modify? Have the patient been concordance with the medication?

Thanks for the feedback. I believe the reason of my miscommunication on that particular day was the staff workload. From what I remember, the Emergency Department was short of staff on that particular day. Proper staffing in the ED would have prevented the miscommunication. Likewise, the nurse should have called our unit first if the room was clean. If the nurse was too busy to call our unit, she should have delegated and asked their unit secretary to call our unit for verification. According to Wienclaw (2008), for any organization to succeed, they should offer training for all their employees to improve their communication skills when dealing with clients and coworkers. Ineffective communication can cause medication errors that can lead to

This study investigated healthcareprovider-patient communication in a referral hospital where the doctors are mainly monolingual in the main working language of the hospital, Amharic,and the clients are from a linguistically and culturally diverse background, and many of whom do not speak Amharic.It investigated communication barrier,focusing more particularly on language and cultural barriers encountered during healthcare provider–patient interaction.The study sought to answer three main research questions namely: describe what features and patterns language use in healthcare at the hospital has, identify languages encountered and level of bilingualism of the healthcare providers and patients; determine how language and cultural barriers affect both patients and care providers, and how health care providers and patients deal with and/or cope with the communiation barriers.