Introduction In healthcare one of the major obstacles employees attempt to overcome is the communication gap. The outpatient clinics in particular find it challenging to keep in contact with the hospital. In the healthcare market to have success you must have communication. Romano observed that hospitals are branching out; outpatient setting offer lucrative services that are rendered in a well-situated environment (2006). The outpatient sector is where the profit is made; this is clearly the way of the future. If prospective clinics are to fulfill patient and employees needs, a communication policy must be put into practice. By employing a communication strategy employees will be more productive, more informed, and administration could expect to see enhanced customer service. Research and Discussion A More Productive Staff Healthcare teams are always looking for ways to improve productivity. Increased communication and improved productivity often exhibit a positive correlation; meaning when one improves so does the other. Outpatient clinics face an uphill battle trying to remain in communication with their main hospital. Equipment differences and work schedules can inhibit productivity without the proper communication. With effective communication between the two facilities productivity will soar. To create a communication strategy equipment differences must be included. The differences hinder productivity due to the fact that protocol is tailored to the equipment at the hospital. Mothiba, Dolamo, and Lekhuleni (2008) observed that in most meetings managers were not incorporating the staff at a functional level (p.43). By including staff from the outpatient clinic in meetings, protocol could b... ... middle of paper ... ... strategy, the outpatient clinic will benefit in several ways. Intra-departmental meetings will be held, both clinic and hospital staff will be present during such meetings. The staff at the clinic will no longer have to decipher through protocol; the outpatient clinic will be represented. This representation will make for a more productive staff. By making changes to the scheduling department and incorporating inter-departmental meetings, schedulers will have a greater respect for technologist’s workload. Customer service at the outpatient clinic will no longer suffer due to communication gaps. By implementing inter/intra-departmental meetings staff will be able to focus more on the patient and provide them with an overall better experience. By making these suggested changes the outpatient clinic will continue to grow and provide quality care to patients.
This year I am most excited about learning how to better communicate with children and being able to see how communication changes depending on their stage of development. I’m excited to learn how to accurately take blood pressure and other vital signs like pulse and respiration. As well as, being able to identify any values that are abnormal. I am also eager to learn how to appropriately express these abnormal finds to my young patients without igniting fear.
Process Excellence in the emergency department is a team collaboration that has a focus of interest for improving quality of care for patients. Team collaboration in health care is recognized as a group of health care workers from different disciplines working together on a common goal. This particular “multidisciplinary” (Finkelman, 2012, p. 336) team meeting was a collaboration of team members that included: the Emergency Room (ER) Director, ER physicians, and ER nurses, ER Head Health Unit Coordinator, ER Business Manager, Senior Process Excellence Coordinator, Director of Information Management, and the Senior Marketing Specialist. This team’s purpose aims to organize a team approach to care for patients treated in the emergency department and focuses on the care approach that provides continuity of care to patients. This focus on the patient is aimed to provide not only a higher level of patient satisfaction, but also to improve professional satisfaction by developing approach by emergency room staff to provide care as team collaboration. This process excellence team has been meeting for over two years in hopes of this goal being reached. This paper aims to help the reader gain a better understanding of this specific team collaboration, the roles of its members, and the communication methods utilized.
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.
Communication is the key method to exchange patients’ information between nurses, doctors and another health care teams.
Collaboration will lead to most effective decision making for patient care. Good communication skills and better resolution will lead to healthy work environment in order to develop better plan in patient care. Finkelman (2012) (Chp12)
Being able to communicate effectively with other health care providers does more than simply enhance the pleasantries that occur while at work, it can also protect patients from imminent danger.
Healthcare is a dynamic, ever-changing environment. The complex circumstances around daily conversations that encompass life-threatening decisions are critical. In order to deliver high quality care, individuals must be able to communicate effectively. In the perfect world of communication, everyone receives the exact same information and is able to respond the exact same way. Unfortunately, communication breakdown is a prevalent issue among hospitals. On any given day of the hospital arena, multiple interactions take place. Some of the dialogue is planned, and some is not. While hospital departments are living in different silos within the same organization, the cultures may vary among the employees. Hospital leadership fosters the importance of collaboration within the organization and depends on the employees to ultimately drive the process. In order to overcome communication barriers in the workplace, conversations must occur. Engaging in daily face-to-face meetings with employees increases positive work culture, morale and overall productivity.
Communication is cited as a contributing factor in 70% of healthcare mistakes, leading to many initiatives across the healthcare settings to improve the way healthcare professionals communicate. (Kohn, 2000.)
After evaluating the Beth Israel case study, Clifford did a good thing for both the medical staff and the patients (Bolman & Deal, 2013). The process of changing to web-centered versus the top-down hierarchy was beneficial to the staff in that it provided the best outcome for the patient (Korner et al., 2016). This style allowed for interdependent collaborations with open communication and decision making that was shared (Korner et al., 2016). Employees are more satisfied with their positions when they have some say in what is occurring in the workplace. Because each employee became equals in the task of caring for the patient, their vast knowledge and skills had to be interjected. This produced differentiation among the staff.
Collaboration makes any job including health care a better and safer place to work. According to a study by Rosenberg 2016, most nurses believe that telemedicines in ICUs improves patient care, increases productivity and collaboration, and makes their jobs easier. Also in this study, it was found that workers with technical problems and attitudes of staff toward each other and telemedicine becomes barriers to implementation.
Communication and the way communication is perceived are highly important in todays’ society as well as in the health care arena. Communication is the interactive process that occurs when a person (the sender) sends a message whether it is verbal or nonverbal to another person (the receiver) and receives feedback. (Kelly, 2012, p 199) It is a vital part of the health care setting and the basis of all interactions amongst staff members, patients and families. Communication is significant in maintaining a healthy interpersonal and interdisciplinary relationship with others. The article Why Health Messages Fail: Lessons from the Australian Fast-Food Industry, (Michelle Phillipov, 2014) depicts how sending the wrong communication may convey the wrong message. This is true in the food industry as well as the health care industry. Therefore, how individuals communicate with one another is just as important as the communication process itself.
I have explained three of the seven principles that I use while interacting with my patients daily. The three methods of communication were defined and explained how each is used in the healthcare setting. The communication method that works best on my unit was explained per my unit’s preference. The four-ethical principle regarding communication were explained along with how these principles and team communication affect patient safety. Overall, this paper has demonstrated why communication is important in the health care
In my opinion, the most important level of communication for communication within the health care industry is interpersonal communication. From previous experience I have always found it easier to communicate face to face or within groups. According to Servellen, (2009) “The interpersonal communication process consists of a dynamic exchange of energy among two or more individuals within a specific sociocultural context (p.39)” An individual can improve their interpersonal communication through experience, practice, and behavioral responses from other individuals. Interpersonal communication will help build relationships with the patients, co-workers, and groups in the health care industry. Three examples that I find helpful with interpersonal
Communication involves relaying information from an individual to another through the use of verbal and nonverbal techniques. Many factors affect the effectiveness of information relay. It involves evaluating verbal aspects such as tone of voice, the emotional content being communicated, the timing and rapport of the interaction with patients, and nonverbal techniques such as facial expressions, time invested. It is necessary for productive and satisfactory work environment, improved patient outcomes, and settling conflicts. The purpose of this paper is to identify issues with ineffective communication and ways to improve proper communication throughout the a hospital’s interdisciplinary team and patients.
Regardless of what type of profession is involved, communication is key for a successful work field. Communication is the art of preparing people to receive information before you give it. Amongst colleagues, the ability to communicate is a critical skill that will impact the care that is given and the outcome obtained. There are many factors that influence communication and mixing of generations can affect issues within a clinical setting. Often times, difficult behaviors are the result of ineffective communication. Therefore, finding a common ground through communication among healthcare team members can influence the quality of working relationships and impact patient care.