In the article Advances in Patient Safety: New Directions and Alternative Approaches, the authors go into depth about the ways that all the health disciplines, including social work, can use interprofessional communication effectively and efficiently to make sure that all the patient’s safety, health, mental, and emotional needs are being met. To start off, the article’s introduction states that one of the leading causes of medical error and patient harm is due to ineffective communication of health care professionals. Specifically the article states, “A review of reports from the Joint Commission reveals that communication failures were implicated at the root of over 70% of sentinel events.”(Dingley, 2008). So basically, 70% of circumstances …show more content…
Later in the article it goes on to say that in some circumstances, nurses, social workers, and pharmacists were too intimidated by the physicians to say anything about anything that they were questioning. I believe this plays a role in the systematical hierarchy that may be set forth in the health care professional environment. Another large factor in the ineffective communication between disciplines is that all of the disciplines have varying viewpoints of what the patients need first and last and because of this, other disciplines are unaware of what the group task may be instead of what their personal diagnoses of the problem are. Other factors that were listed in the article are limited opportunities for regular synchronous interaction throughout their busy daily schedules and unpredictable environment as well as differences in …show more content…
This article points out many of the techniques that were talked about in the IPE Tegrity lectures. Some interventions that are used to increase communication skills are provide effective interprofessional communication are the SBAR, team huddles, and multidisciplinary rounds using daily goal sheets. To briefly describe each, the SBAR is a standardized means for communication in patient situations. It asks these four questions, “What is going on with the patient,” “What is the clinical background or context”, “What do I think the problem is”, and “What do I think needs to be done for the patient”(Dingley, 2008). This is used by all health care disciplines, hereby ideally eliminating hierarchy between the physician and the other disciplines. Team huddles are quick pow wows that set the flow of the rest of the day. In the article, it states that these team huddles result inlet interruptions during the rest of the day and immediate clarification of issues (Dingley, 2008). They have specific guidelines to make sure that they run as effectively as possible as well. Lastly, multidisciplinary rounds increase patient-centered communication and include any and all providers involved in the patient’s care. These are primarily focused on open communication, decision making,
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.
Openness and effective communication between team members ensure each member is aware of their roles and responsibilities within the inter-professional team as well as the roles of the other members, and can reveal possible conflicts in interest, which can then be attended to before they pose risk of affecting the care and treatment of the patient.
“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.
Communication involves the exchange of information between two or more people. Whether verbal or nonverbal, communication serves as the bridge that allows people to share ideas and thoughts. Clinical professionals converse with patients, relatives, and other professionals daily. Conversely, despite having multiple encounters with patients every day, physicians fail to enact the necessary communication and interpersonal skills to effectively listen, instill confidence, and promote following medical advice in patients.
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.
For this reason, it is imperative that individuals improve communication among these stakeholders. In the course of 4days in a hospital, a patient can come into contact with about 50 different employees including nurses, technicians and physicians. As a result, for effective clinical practice, critical information MUST be passed on with complete accuracy. According to Rosenstein & O’Daniel 2008, some of the obstacles to Interprofessional Collaboration and Communication include Gender, hierarchy, differences in languages and jargon, the diverse levels of preparation, qualifications and status, the complexity of the care, the historical Interprofessional and Interprofessional contentions, differences in professional routines and agenda, the emphasis on quick decision-making, the fear of diluting one’s professional identity among others. Additionally, those who have the most barriers tend to be physicians and nurses. Despite their numerous interactions in one day, they have differing perceptions about their responsibilities and roles concerning the requirements the patient may have so they end up having different goals for the patient. Due to the ethnic diversity
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.)
Over the last nine years, I have been in the healthcare profession. When I was younger, I never imagined myself wanting a career when I would manage people, but who does? I always aspired to be a pilot, until reality kicked in. When I was fifteen, I had to volunteer a couple hundreds of hours for the school program in which I attended. I decided to volunteer at a local hospital. Little did I know that volunteering for three years would have led me into wanting a profession in healthcare. After volunteering for three years, I decided to get a job for a local community health center, where I have been employed for the last six years. I have held several different positions in those six years and I have learned a plethora of skills, many involving interpersonal communication.
Interprofessional communication is a vital technique used between professions. During this semester, nursing students had the opportunity to work together and identify different values, ethical principles and different formats of communication utilized by health professionals. Over the course of this paper, the objective focused on the comparison of a case manager to the role of an Registered Nurse (RN). Subtopics included the ethical principles and dilemmas that can occur in their field of work. In addition, some of the core values and responsibilities a case manager portrays. Laura Craig was the case manager interviewed for this paper to provide a real-life perspective on the role of a case manager.
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
Collaboration is the foundation to success in any team. In the healthcare setting, interprofessional collaboration (IC) has been a significant trademark among numerous highly successful innovations. Collaboration between nurses and other healthcare providers improves the quality of care, coordination, and communication between the team leading to increased patient safety. Working in a team to achieve common goals implies open communication, respect for others, mutual trust, and honesty. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the meaning of interprofessional collaboration, its implications for practice, describe the role of IC in the provision of patient and family-centered care,
This approach is referred to as the Interprofessional Collaboration Practice (IPC). To become an effective leader and follower, each profession will need to work together for the same goal and purpose, which is the care of the patient. By negotiating, consulting, interacting, and discussing with other team members, we reach a common understanding of the decisions being made (2011). When there is a lack of communication, information can become misunderstood and mistakes and confrontations can arise. Dufrene (2012), has stated how graduate nursing students lack the confidence to communicate with other professionals, this in part with limited opportunities during their clinical experiences.
Despite the frequency of verbal interactions, miscommunication of patient information occurs that can lead to patient safety issues. . . . ‘Effective communication occurs when the expertise, skills, and unique perspectives of both nurses and physicians are integrated, resulting in an improvement in the quality of patient care’ (Lindeke & Sieckert, 200...
Keeping patients safe is essential in today’s health care system, but patient safety events that violate that safety are increasing each year. It was only recently, that the focus on patient safety was reinforced by a report prepared by Institute of medicine (IOM) entitled ” To err is human, building a safer health system”(Wakefield & Iliffe,2002).This report found that approx-imately 44,000 to 98,000 deaths occur each year due to medical errors and that the majority was preventable. Deaths due to medical errors exceed deaths due to many other causes such as like HIV infections, breast cancer and even traffic accidents (Wakefield & Iliffe, 2002). After this IOM reports, President Clinton established quality interagency coordination task force with the help of government agencies. These government agencies are responsible for making health pol-icies regarding patient safety to which every HCO must follow (Schulman & Kim, 2000).
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