IMPROVING NURSE-PHYSICIAN

COMMUNICATIONTHROUGH COLLABORATIVE

COMMUNICATION

Ashley DealUniversity of Central Florida

Background

Nurse Physician communication in the acute care setting is one of the key components of a healthy work environment and allows for improved patient care and nursing satisfaction

Background

One of the AACN’s Standards for creating a health work environment is Skilled Communication.

“Nurses must be as proficient in communication skills as they are in clinical skills” (AACN, 2005)

One of the elements of skilled communication focuses on seeking to “protect and advance collaborative relationships among colleagues” including physicians (AANP, 2005).

“Communication between nurses and physicians is the one

factor that is most associated with excess hospital mortality”(Manojlovich & DeCicco, 2007).

Background

Nurse physician communication is vital to ensuring safe and quality patient care

Effective nurse physician communication improves nursing job satisfaction and also decreases burn out syndrome among nurses (Kadda, 2013)

Also allows for decreased job stress.

What are the barriers to effective

communication between nurses and

physicians?

Barriers

Communication involves two parities and in this case nurses and physicians are the parties being examined

There are barriers on both the nurses side and the physicians side that hinder effective communication

Barriers

Hierarchical authority structure Sexism Experience Support from management lack of formal training or education on

effective communication Ineffective leadership

Role of the Nurse Leader

The nurse leader needs to be proficient at skilled communication in order to set an example for their team

The nurse leader should allow for education or training sessions for staff in skilled communication and effective nurse-physician communication

The nurse leader needs to provide support to staff and act as a liaison between staff nurses and physicians

Nurse Leader

Nurse leaders and management play in an important role in providing information and communicating to allow for effective care coordination and to avoid unsafe care and errors (Huber, 2010).

Role of the Nurse Leader

Improve the leadership team’s ability to exercise shared leadership in promotion of collaborative relationships among all nurses and physicians

Enhance or modify individual and team collaborative communication behaviors and processes, including open, timely, and accurate communication; enhanced team coordination; improved interdisciplinary problem (Boyle & Kochinda, 2004).

Alternative Solutions

Utilizing the SBAR communication tool Situation Background Assessment Recommendation

Research shows that SBAR dose not allow for complete communication of key information (Joffe, 2013)

Solution

Collaborative communication nursing and physician leaders create the

environment for collaborative communication among healthcare providers, and collaborative communication is associated with positive patient, nurse, and physician outcomes ((Boyle & Kochinda, 2004))

Solution

Collaborative communication allows for nurses and physicians to effectively communicate with one another

Collaboration allows nurses to have a voice in their patients care

Implementation

Multidisciplinary rounds Allows for nurses and physicians to discuss

patients together and provides nurses a voice in patient care

“Nurse-physician rounds have the potential to improve relationships between caregivers, and

positively affect communication and perception of patient care. Greater

understanding may contribute to safer medical care and more satisfied patients” (Burns,

2011)

Implementation

Collaborative meeting Allowing a time for nurses and physicians to

meet in an organized and professional manner to address concerns of communication between nurses and physicians

Nurse leaders and management should also be involved to assist in facilitating positive communication and outcomes

Review negative communication situations and create plans to avoid repeating the same mistakes

Evaluation

Evaluation would be based on nursing satisfaction of communication between nurses and physicians

Improved communication should also yield improved patient care and decreased errors

ReferencesAmerican Association of Critical-Care Nurses (2005). AACN STANDARDS FOR ESTABLISHING AND

SUSTAINING HEALTHY WORK ENVIRONMENTS. Retrieved March 30, 2014, from

http://www.aacn.org/WD/HWE/Docs/HWEStandards.pdf

Boyle, D., & Kochinda, C. (2004). Enhancing collaborative communication of nurse and

physician leadership in two intensive care units. The Journal Of Nursing

Administration, 34(2), 60-70. Burns, K. (2011). Professional Issues. Nurse-Physician Rounds: A Collaborative Approach To

Improving Communication, Efficiencies, and Perception of Care. MEDSURG

Nursing, 20(4), 194-199.

Joffe, E., Turley, J. P., Hwang, K. O., Johnson, T. R., Johnson, C. W., & Bernstam, E. V. (2013).

Evaluation of a Problem-Specific SBAR Tool to Improve After-Hours Nurse-

Physician Phone Communication: A Randomized Trial. Joint Commission Journal On

Quality & Patient Safety, 39(11), 495-501.

References

Kadda, O. (2013). Effective Physician - Nurse

communication. Health Science Journal, 7(4), 237-238.

Manojlovich, M., & DeCicco, B. (2007). Healthy work

environments, nurse-physician communication, and patients'

outcome. American Journal Of Critical Care, 16(6), 536-543.

Robinson, F., Gorman, G., Slimmer, L., & Yudkowsky, R. (2010).

Perceptions of effective and ineffective nurse-physician

communication in hospitals. Nursing Forum, 45(3), 206-216.

doi:10.1111/j.1744-6198.2010.00182.x