Communications between Health Care Professionals - Essay Example

Communication between Health Care Professionals Student Name Affiliation Institution Communications between Health Care Professionals Adequate communication plays a fundamental role in ensuring proper coordination among physicians and all the caregivers. When medical professionals fail to communicate effectively, patient safety is in a quagmire due to lack of crucial information, misreading of information and ignoring changes in status. Physician-related obstacles to effective communication include inadequate training in communication skills and lack of sensitivity or empathy. Therefore, this essay will discuss communication issues for health care professionals especially the interaction between nurses, colleagues, and the management. The paper outlines a clinical experience so as to offer a clear understanding of the ideas discussed in this essay and engage the Gibbs Reflective Cycle. Using the reflective essay writing skills, it will give a critical evaluation of the issue under consideration and suggest recommendations that would contribute to effective communication among health care officers and realize improved care for patients. Effective communication between health care professionals is essential in order to achieve quality service provision in any health care setting. According to medical reports, effective communication between doctors and nurses is critical to the safety of patients in obstetrics (Lyndon, Zlatnik & Wachter, 2011). Given the current health care system, delivery processes entail numerous interfaces and patient handoffs among a particular team of medical practitioners. Puntillo & McAdam ., (2006) states that an increase in shared decision-making can lead to better understanding and respect for the views and difficulties encountered by other care providers in a medical fraternity. Nurses in various departments value their contributions to the organization’s decisional processes and always seek to have more roles. Thus, increased collaboration and communication can yield more appropriate care and improved patient, physician and family contentment (Puntillo & McAdam, 2006). In everyday work activities in every health care setting, nurses, physicians and the management converse concerning various health care duties and assignments. Depending on the management structure and level training, nurses obtain a number of instructions from physicians regarding health conditions of patients. Understanding the message and good communication is essential to minimizing patient care errors. Lack of communication causes situations that result in medical errors that place patient care at risk (O’Daniel & Rosenstein, 2008). The medical errors are likely to cause severe harm or even lead to the unexpected death of patients. Medical errors resulting from communication failure are known to be a pervasive problem affecting the modern health care organizations (O’Daniel & Rosenstein, 2008). The evidence-based nursing handbook recognizes that communication failures are the primary cause of medical errors, treatment delays, and wrong-site surgeries. At the time of medication, patients expect medical personnel to know everything concerning their illness. As a result, the exceptions inevitably cause disappointments, anger, and resentment among health workers, patients and their families (Burnard, 2004). Furthermore, reports and studies also establish that the lack interprofessional understanding and co-operation is a chief challenge in the process of health care delivery. As medical personnel show arrogance and ethnocentrism in their feelings towards other health care workers and continuously engage in turf conflicts, the health care system suffers instead (Burnard, 2004). When nurses and physicians do not exercise interprofessional understanding and co-operation, therapeutic issues are likely to occur whose ultimate result is poor patient care service delivery. Proper communication between nurses and physicians is essential to patient safety (Nadzam, 2009). Ethical and moral questions also arise in a health care organization and are known to affect effective communication they are addressed well. Ethical and moral concerns usually focus on equal treatment, the privacy of holding information and access to this information (Ashley, DeBlois, & O'Rourke, 2006). The issue entails informed consent, equal treatment and accessibility to health care, and concealing essential information. Notably, the issue is complicated further by euthanasia and cultural and religious limits with respect to patient care (Burnard, 2004). Furthermore, nurse to nurse communication usually occurs when handing over shift or nursing reports during or after a shift. In the process, crucial patient information such as age, tests and procedures, and changes in the patient’s behavior is exchanged. Bullying has also been as one of the causes of communication failures. There is a high prevalence of workplace bullying or horizontal violence in Australia (Berman & Kozier, 2008). Nurses might witness or personally experience horizontal violence at some stage in their career despite the existence of zero tolerance policies. It usually involves inter-group conflicts and violent or aggressive behavior demonstrated by one or more members of a group (Berman & Kozier, 2008). Workplace bullying includes behaviors such as excessive condemnation, intimidation, spreading rumors, nonverbal innuendo and blocking opportunities for training or promotions (Arbuckle, 2012). In many cases, nursing students live with an impression that using their verbal or nonverbal communication skills to query or challenge the practices of nursing personnel might increase workplace bullying. Therefore, maintaining open communication can help to ensure commitment to teamwork (Berman & Kozier, 2008). Hierarchical conflict occurs between physicians and nurses, which ruin communication and has severe impacts on patient safety. Since both doctors and nurses are intimately engaged in care and support of patients, the major communication breakdown between physicians and nurses could potentially cause serious medical problems for patients (Taran, 2011). Their relationship and communication patterns imply that doctors are superior to nurses and are ultimately in control the team that subordinates the role of nurses (Williams, 2005). In modern day nursing, this relationship has changed as nurses are now claiming legitimate and equal voice in joint patient care and management of health service. Nurses can use various communication techniques while handing over and communicating patient information including verbal accounts relayed face-to-face or indirectly through a recording device. Despite emphasis on the handover process, it has been noted as a time when failure in continuity of care can occur because receiving nurses might not understand or take action regarding the information provided (Berman & Kozier, 2012; Yee, Wong & Turner 2009). Doctors and nurses can use acronyms such as ISBAR since they have been identified to be useful in streamlining communication between nurses and doctors especially on the telephone (Weiss & Tappen, 2015). The technique plays a significant role in facilitating communication of crucial information to other members of a health care team especially when the patient is worsening, and immediate attention and action is necessary. While on duty in a health care facility in clinical placement capacity, I noticed various communication issues surrounding the interaction between doctors and nurses. Following surgery, the surgeon packed a neck wound and did not inform the nurse the number of pieces of gauze that he used. He then wrote an order for dressing changes and the patient was handled post-operatively by other members of the physicians’ practice team but not the surgeon. The nurses unpacked and repacked the wound without the knowledge of how many pieces of gauze had been used. No record had been kept concerning the items used in surgery. Weeks after the surgery, the patient complained of severe pain felt through the wound and the family came forth to express their dissatisfaction with the surgeon and other opinions. When the wound was explored, a piece of gauze was removed but it could not be determined whether it was placed by the surgeon or left by the nursing team during the subsequent changes. The doctor claimed that dressing of wounds was the responsibility of nurses. On the other hand, the nurses held that the subsequent dressing changes were appropriate but instead, the gauze was placed deep in the wound by the surgeon where they could not see it. Furthermore, the nurse did not know how many gauzes had initially been used to pack the wound because it was neither recorded by the surgeon or the original nurse. In such a case, it can be learned that the patient can sue both parties for compensation for a retained foreign body based on finger pointing between the surgeon and nurses. The bottom line is that the mutual lack of records and failure to communicate is the cause of this issue. The first problem here experienced is a lack of respect and recognition between a doctor and nurse. Respect and recognition are indispensable elements underlying the rapport between the two parties and plays a crucial role in motivating nurses especially the interns. When the nurse was handing over the reports to the doctor, there was no effort to show the nurse respect for demonstrating commitment and hard work on the patient overnight. Although the nurse had developed good interaction with the patient and managed to get more information regarding how the patient was feeling, especially after surgery, the surgeon just took the file and moved away without saying a word to the nurse. The surgeon was not willing to recognize the role of the clinical nurse and appreciate the effort of the nurse to handle the patient prior to and after surgery. The second issue experience in the clinical practice is the lack of collaboration and cooperation between the doctor and nurse. Medical literature has noted that health care providers must collaborate and cooperate with each other so as to benefit patient care ((Berry, 2007). Although the nurse had been assigned to work with the doctor, the two did not attempt to build a good relationship as during the period they worked together. The two did not visit the patients or review medical reports together. For instance, the surgeon did not inform the nurse or document the number of gauzes that were used during surgery. The increase in collaboration and communication between physicians and nurses can yield more appropriate care and increased satisfaction for both the two interacting parties (Puntillo & McAdam, 2006). The fact that there were finger pointing and blame shifting between the surgeon and nurses imply that there is a lack of respect and ignorance in various management levels. Since the surgeon did not know or record how many gauzes that were used to close the wound after the surgery procedure, apparently, it was unreasonable to deny. Equally, the nursing team demonstrated utmost ignorance by not asking the surgeon or the original nurses for records concerning the operation. The outcome of the confusion was disrespectful incidences and blame shifting, and it was unethical with respect to the organizational values. Good communication skills require to be exercised together with clinical competence, empathy and ethical conduct (Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, 2004). The clinical experience did not impact lightly on the nursing team and the original nurse as they showed fury, discouragement, and elevated confusion. Although the surgeon and other physician attend constant training and proactive activities concerning good communication, the way the issue was caused and handled imply that the surgeon did not practice effective communication. Equally, the nursing team also indicated that they did not practice good communication despite that they were aware of its significance when handling patients. Here, it is apparent that there is a need to emphasize lessons concerning good communication skills to all professionals in any health care settings, especially the clinical department. Based on this clinical experience, all health care facilities must facilitate access of health professionals to projects and programmes that help to improve communication skills between health care groups (Nemeth, 2008). The rate at which poor communication occurs in health facilities particularly between health professionals and the factors causing communication issues take place universally. It poses a lot of risk to the management if such cases of miscommunication are overlooked (Cassandra, 2012). Additionally, adaptation can be used to improve collaboration and team building (Van, 2009). The health care professionals must be prompted to utilize the SBAR tool that allows each section to give and receive essential information in the way that cares for and satisfies different communication styles and needs. SBAR refers to the process of providing situation (S), background (B), assessment (A), and Recommendations (R) (Cassandra, 2012). The strategy has proved to be efficient in promoting communication between nurses and physicians. The SBAR tool can be used as a communication methodology from leadership to microstrategies across all types of reporting (Kathleen, Staci, & Whittington, 2006). According to medical research, pairing a new resident on a particular unit with a nurse for a specified amount of time explained to the doctors’ special contribution to health care and underscored the significance of collaboration (Cassandra, 2012). In conclusion, the relationship between health care professionals is essential to patient safety and quality care. The essay has established that the lack effective communication between physicians and nurses poses a lot of danger with death as the ultimate consequence. Some of the issues that create a breakdown in communication between nurses and doctors include health care bullying, lack of respect and recognition, lack of sensitivity and empathy, and lack of respect. If not addressed properly, they cause conflicts in the midst of various patient needs. The paper follows the reflective essay writing structure and makes evaluations based on the Gibbs Reflective Cycle. The clinical experience scenario is the essential part of the paper and shows how a nurse can get out of a dilemma without causing trouble to the patient or the organization. References Arbuckle, G. (2012). Humanizing Healthcare Reforms. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Ashley, B. M., DeBlois, J., & O'Rourke, K. D. (2006). Health care ethics: A Catholic theological analysis. Washington, D.C: Georgetown University Press. Australian Government National Health and Medical Research Council. (2004). Communicating With Patients; Advice for Medical Practitioners. Commonwealth of Australia. Berman, A., & Kozier, B. (2008). Kozier & Erb's fundamentals of nursing. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall. Berry, D. (2007). Health communication. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Burnard, P. (1992). Effective communication skills for health professionals. London: Chapman & Hall. Cassandra, L. F. (2012). Communication: A Dynamic Between Nurses and Physicians. 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