Effective Communication and Nursing Practice Introduction and Problem Identification

 
It is impossible to imagine a competent medical system without adequate communication. Medical institutions whose leaders promote effective communication among their followers find it easier to solve emerging challenges and improve patient outcomes. Thus, the purpose of this project is to explain how to achieve effective communication between nurses, patients, and their family members, leading to better outcomes. The project will present background information on the issue, literature review, and proposed action plan.

Get a custom-written paper
Grab a 100% original academic paper tailored to your instructions
Let us help you
163 specialists online
Problem Statement
The problem statement is articulated with the help of the Johns Hopkins Question Development Tool as the guide (Johns Hopkins Hospital, n.d.). Effective communication is significant because it allows nurses to provide their patients with information on their health, treatment methods, and preventive measures. Furthermore, nurses should also address family members to contribute to better outcomes. If a medical establishment does not have effective communication strategies, possible issues are likely to emerge. It is a clinical problem with an educational focus that can result in effectiveness concerns, unsatisfactory patients, and variation in practice. The challenge of ineffective communication still remains a significant problem in different units. Thus, it is necessary to formulate a PICO question and conduct a literature search to identify the most suitable solutions. The initial EBP question is whether effective communication between nurses, patients, and their family members can make a difference regarding the length of stay.

Problem Background
When individuals are unable to cooperate and pursue a common goal, the chances are high that they will ignore the effectiveness of the established care procedures and create room for medication errors. Portney (2020) argues that poor communication remains one of the major causes of poor health outcomes and preventable deaths in different medical facilities. Furthermore, Tulsky et al. (2017) admit that “poor communication by health care professionals contributes to physical and psychological suffering in patients” (p. 1361).

Stakeholders
This project involves several stakeholders whose roles can be instrumental in changing the situation. The first category of stakeholders is that of all medical professionals whose goals and experiences depend on the nature of communication. The second group is comprised of patients and community members who expect to receive high-quality services from their respective health units. Finally, medical units can also suffer from ineffective communication because unsatisfied patients can create a negative image of the health care establishment.

PICOT Question
The PICO(T) question formulated for the project is clear and concise. In hospitalized patients suffering from infection diseases (P), does creating regular simulation and role modeling rounds to contribute to communication excellence between nurse, patient, and family to discuss patient health status and progress (I), compared with irregular patient status reports (C), allow for better communication and increase the quality of care by reducing the length of stay (O) within the admission period (T)? This articulation stipulates that the proposed search terms include nursing, patient, and communication. The terms and the year of publication form the basis of a search strategy to use. The given question reflects the current evidence because it addresses a topical issue. Finally, the PICO(T) question shows that the project is aimed at determining how and whether education communication can contribute to a shorter duration of stay among hospital patients.

Literature Support
Review of Literature
At this stage, it is necessary to find literature that can answer the question above. It was decided to look for the articles in the ScienceDirect, PubMed, Springer Link, and NCBI databases, and ten suitable studies have been found. The Johns Hopkins Individual Evidence Summary Tool demonstrates the analysis and the reliability of the sources (Johns Hopkins Hospital, n.d.). The following information will show how it is possible to address the problem under consideration.

On-time essay delivery!
Get your custom, 100% plagiarism-free paper
in as little as 1 hour
Let’s start
163 specialists online
On the one hand, one should state that ineffective communication between nurses and relatives of patients can result in sadness, anger, and anxiety (Chan, 2017). Furthermore, Crawford et al. (2017) argue that cultural differences resulting in communicating inefficiencies can lead to adverse outcomes. At the same time, numerous patients admit that they appreciate the attention paid to them by nurses Chan et al. (2018). On the other hand, Curtis et al. (2016) stipulate that communication facilitators decrease family distress and reduce hospital length of stay. Furthermore, Wocial et al. (2017) also mention that effective communication is associated with reduced length of stay. That is why the following articles will explain how it is possible to improve nurses’ communication skills.

Blake and Blake (2019) and Bussard and Lawrence (2019) mention that nursing lab simulation and role modeling are a sufficient way to increase nurses’ communication skills. Donovan and Mullen (2019) stipulate that simulation programs result in higher nurses’ confidence while working with patients. In addition to that, Bullington et al. (2019) state that a phenomenologically-based communication training approach helps nurses train communication skills. Finally, Dittman and Hughes (2018) also say that nursing participation in multidisciplinary patient rounds increases communication proficiency.

Intervention Description
Proposed Intervention
The proposed intervention is to organize regular simulation and role modeling rounds to contribute to communication excellence among nurses. It is necessary to develop a learning plan that will guide the rounds above. They will teach nurses how to include their patients and encourage family members in communication to offer proper support. This intervention will go further to allow key stakeholders to be involved in improving the level of communication.

Setting
The targeted setting for the proposed study is a healthcare unit. The hospital will have caregivers, practitioners, nurse leaders, and health managers. The facility will also identify patients who are expected to participate throughout the study period and benefit from effective communication. In this setting, it is necessary to make sure that patient length of stay is decreased, and their satisfaction can be an additional positive outcome.