Effective Communication Holly Crabtree March 19, 2012 HCS/325 Walter Ornsteen

Communication is a vital part of our lives. Everyone learns to communicate as babies and continue to develop and individualize our skills throughout our lifetime. Part of our development includes learning to communicate effectively. Effective communication means that we actively listen to others and observe their body language. Their emotions and attitudes may not be heard in their tone of voice. Sometimes, individuals say more through their actions and facial expressions than in spoken words. This is especially true in health care. (2011) Patients sometimes believe that health care providers see them as a number or chart and not as a person. Providers ask closed ended questions to save time. Some patients perceive this as a lack of caring and will not disclose pertinent information. Patients may be misdiagnosed and not receive the correct care. (2011) Communication in a skilled nursing facility is comparable to other in-patient facilities and out-patient facilities. Patients should always be treated with respect and caring. Effective listening skills can be beneficial in the treatment of patients and when communicating with other staff members. At Union City Care Center, the most effective form of communication is face-to-face or one-on-one communication. Eye contact is an important component of active communication. Managers can look at coworkers, employees, patients, and family members in the eyes and create a sense of trust. Direct eye contact is way to make sure that individuals understand the line of communication and how they feel about it. Sometimes participants in a conversation lose interest and their mind wanders. With direct eye contact people typically will stay focused on the conversation and show their true feelings. (2012) All department managers attend a weekly meeting with the administrator. During the meeting, each manager discusses any issues in the department and any concerns that may need addressed with other departments. The discusses the information from corporate and any other issues that may need discussed. This is a great way to keep departments working together and working as a team. The activity department may need assistance with outings or transports. The group can discuss it and find a way to assist them. All employees must attend a meeting once a month. This is a time for them to discuss issues between shifts and alleviate them. Little things can fester into major issues when they are not dealt with. Word of mouth communication has proven to be ineffective. The certified nursing assistants and nurses give the oncoming shift a report of each patient. They are also to relay any status changes that occurred during the shift and the previous shift. At the end of the shift, employees rush to finish report so they can clock out. Patient information and status changes are forgotten and not relayed. For instance, a new patient is admitted on first shift. First shift nursing assistants relay her status to the second shift nursing assistants. The second shift assistants may forget to tell third shift that the patient requires assistance to ambulate to and from the bathroom. The resident may be noncompliant and falls while trying to get to the bathroom in the middle of the night. The third shift nursing assistant saw the patient up and about but did not know that the patient required assistance for ambulation. Communication between shifts would be improved if the nursing assistants kept a running log of patient status changes and other pertinent information that the oncoming shift may need to know. The log would be read by the oncoming nursing assistants discussed during the shift report. This procedure would decrease the incidents not passed during shift report. Union City Care Center is a small facility, 43 beds. They have yet to move to electronic charting. Medical charts and daily reports are still on paper charts and located on a wall behind the nurse’s station. In larger facilities, computerized charting has already been implemented. Certified staff can log into a touch screen monitor in each hall or at a centralized station to check a patient’s status. Also notes can be added to inform staff members of a patient’s change in status. Shift reports would be posted by each shift and read by the oncoming shift. (2010) The health care field is constantly changing. Computers and software programs are continually improving communication channels. Health care facilities and their staff must work as a unit to adapt to the new technology and its outcomes. (2010)

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