Aspects of Communication in the Field of Nursing - Research Proposal Example

? Healthcare Background information There is a global call that the healthcare sector requires a complete overhaul of its policies to accommodate the emerging issues that pertain to quality of services delivered by nurses and clinical officers to patients. One of them is communication aspects that is instrumental in the entire process of activities is taking the information during the interaction, diagnosis, prescription and treatment of the patient for administrative purposes and an aggregate better results. Lack of well co-ordinated communication has always made organizations especially the healthcare providers in big problems that may not be easy to solve ones they hit irreversible point. Some of the administrative issues in a healthcare facility and the sector in general include the adjustments required for the care to be given to the patients. This entails how the health status of the patient is progressing since the last medical service offered or administered at a given instance. Another important aspect of this has to do with management planning which need to be done in respect of the charges on the services offered to the patient. This is a very important aspect of management since the funds generated from the services and prescriptions administered to the patients and other clients forms the basis of successful operation and the overall quality of service delivery. Billing department has particularly been at the Centre of this problem when the nurses fail to inform them of additional services or prescription to the patients. This has always led to lack of accountability and significantly affect their planning. Introduction It is important for an organization to put in place interventionry measures for improving communication.Healthcare sector has been undergoing a myriad of changes that need in-depth consideration for any significant progress. Communication is one such tool that has been tasked to bring sanity among nurses and healthcare managers. Improper management of information has far reaching effects both to the healthcare stakeholders and the society at large. There have been several cases of legal battle and unethical actions resulting from poor consideration of communication as a fundamental tool for the nursing services provision. One aspect of this has always been realized from inadequate data to indicate the progress of the patients and guide the management on issues like billing and the overall performance of the nurses as they deliver their services. It is important to note that information covers the better part of healthcare provision and in the event that this goes missing a significant loss is eminent. It is therefore important that a lot of effort is put towards improving the healthcare sector from training to actual practice of the nurses and clinician. Statement of the problem Among the several issues that have been discussed as the challenges to the healthcare sector communication is very critical and this calls for interventionary measures. This is the link between the nurses, management and the patients. It is therefore important that this is done with sound strategy and effectiveness for smooth co-ordination of activities in the healthcare facilities. The main focus of communication concept in this case is recording and retrieval of patient data to the administration. It is imperative that the nurses know that communicating an existing problem that pose a threat to the facility and the health of the patients is primary to the welfare of the society. Work-setting problem The inherent less attention given to some aspects of communication by healthcare management is critical when it comes to the overall performance of the sector. The healthcare management should also underscore the significance of free and healthy interaction with its staff so that it would be easy for them to note any anomaly in their behavior. The interest of the patient should come first since the cardinal role of the nurses is to save life and this would suffice the definition of positive ethical code of conduct and healthcare practices. Taking the record of progress of the patients have a significant role as far as the overall goal of quality healthcare provision is concerned. It is important to underline the increasing concern over the quality of health care that is partly contributed by the questionable communication practices of the nurses and some professional malpractices arising from inadequate knowledge. Objective of the study There is need to undertake in-depth exploration of the various interventionary aspects of communication in the field of nursing and healthcare sector at large. This is in line with the increasing demand for information usefulness in the entire circle of events that bring the nurse, manager and the patient together with a unity of purpose. Of critical focus in this case are record taking, keeping and retrieval for gauging the performance of the patient by the healthcare managers. Research questions The question that needs to be asked in this case is if recording of the patient progress information is significance in the aggregate performance of the healthcare provision as a communication improvement measure. Hypothesis Null Hypothesis Ho: Taking information about the progress of the patient and recording for administrative purposes has no significance interventionary measure towards the performance of nurses and the healthcare sector at large. Null Hypothesis H1: Taking information about the progress of the patient and recording for administrative purposes has significance interventionary measure towards the performance of nurses and the healthcare sector at large. Significance of study Nursing has become a critical aspect of the society due to the important role it plays in the society and its important to notice the communication boosting measures. However, some aspects of its effective execution and attainment of positive results is important for it to yield much better results. Patient progress data recording is likely to boost the performance of the healthcare sector and this will translate to improved living standard of the society at large. This study will equally form the basis for further investigative experiments on this topic. Limitations of study It is imperative that some factors are taken into consideration when one is carrying out such a research. The increasing debate that point fingers at the healthcare officers, nurses, clinicians and managers makes it fairly difficult to get adequate data for this investigation. It is also relatively time consuming and costly in respect of the conventions of carrying out any research. LITERATURE REVIEW Communication skills lessons among nurses Nursing is expansive and requires a number of interpersonal skills besides the basic clinical training. It is therefore to initiate wide reading and investigative experiments by using the most current variety of journals on health issues. The theoretical information obtained from the journals, magazines and text book sources instill the spirit of in-depth reading which is vital in the life of a nurse (Aveyard, 2009). This will also encourage further research into some of the unexplained health related phenomena. Learning in the field of nursing is a continuous process and requires personal urge for more information so that base for various arguments can be attained. This is where the issue of research oriented learning is healthy for the performance of the students (Banning, 2003, 23). It is equally important to underline the role of gradually introducing the students to practical by taking them to healthcare facilities and presenting them with real life experience of nursing profession. Improved research and development Various health care stakeholders have been funding research studies on various issues surrounding the nursing practices. All this is meant to achieve the much touted quality healthcare delivery in the society. Such research and practices need to be communicated to the nursing professionals to boost their performance. Acquisition of information is one of the greatest challenges that affect many nurses (Gerrish & Lacey, 2010). It is therefore important that they are given sound theoretical training that is result oriented if translated to practical applications in the field. Dissemination of information during learning among the nurses significantly explain their future performance in the field when assigned duties. It is therefore imperative that the methods of imparting such concepts are taken through critical assessment and all the factors taken into consideration. Information cost is one of the most important aspects of high standard performance of the leaners when they come into real life situation (Bergin, 2013). Acquisition of equipment There are various communication inadequacies that amount to miscommunication in the organization. It is imperative to underline the concepts that surround communication. One of the measures in this case is the hospital’s administration to provide recording equipment like books, pens, tablet.This includes the source, receiver and interceptors. Any of these pillars may cause the communication to be ineffective. The source of information in most organizations is the central management unit which is the overall manager. The receivers’ wing transcends from the top through departments before it comes to the medical staff and the general public. The issue of information loss along this path makes it possible to have the receivers getting incomplete communication and this constitutes miscommunication. Data collection The common cause of such a scenario is the case where the people entrusted with relaying the information manipulates the data making it to have a completely new meaning. Information that is twisted to suit another meaning loses meaning and fails to communicate what it was intended for (Guffey, 2008). This results in a completely different outcome and inefficient allocation of resources in a company leading to inefficient production. Some of the major factors that results to this scene is the heavy bureaucracy in most companies. The longer chain of command and the strict requirement to follow order is likely to cause loss of some information out of personal reasons or sabotage motives. It is therefore important that those entrusted with communication take impartial side on the opinions or information issued to be communicated to others lest they invert it to their advantage. This has been very common in larger health facilities with complex management structures. Recommendations The staff needs to be given more training on the role of communication in the successful performance of various duties. Lack of good communication skills is a great disservice to any individual since it also goes with the overall personality of an individual. Those who are not good in communication lack the public confidence and this translate to low performance. This is a problem that can even affect the managers who tends to be introverts. Conclusion Various health care stakeholders have been funding research studies on various issues surrounding the nursing practices. All this is meant to achieve the much touted quality healthcare delivery in the society. Such research and practices need to be communicated to the nursing professionals to boost their performance. Acquisition of information is one of the greatest challenges that affect many nurses (Gerrish & Lacey, 2010). It is therefore important that they are given sound theoretical training that is result oriented if translated to practical applications in the field. It is therefore important that information is considered as a very critical aspect of co-operation of healthcare provision. Reference Aveyard, H. (2009). A beginner's guide to evidence based practice in health and social care. Maidenhead, U.K., Open Univ Press. Bergin, T. (2013). The evidence enigma correctional boot camps and other failures in evidence-based policymaking. Burlington, VT: Ashgate. Gerrish, K., & Lacey, A. (2010). The research process in nursing. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K., Wiley-Blackwell. Guffey, Mary E. (2008) Business Communication: Process & Product. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Print. Read More