NR 351 Week 3 Discussion: Building Communication and Collaboration Skills (Graded)
NR 351 Week 3 Discussion: Building Communication and Collaboration Skills (Graded)
As a nurse being able to effectively communicate with each other and the rest of the team caring for a patient is very important. That is why nurses need to have effective communication to be able to convey our teachings or important information to our patients and to the team caring for the patient. According to Chamberlain College of Nursing (2021) “Key communication strategies for professional nurses includes, listening, clear concise, accurate wording, respect for other adaptation for cultural diversity, development of trust and rapport, choosing the right time and place”. As a nurse we also need to be aware of our verbal and nonverbal communication skills while we are interacting with patients and interdisciplinary teams. According to Chamberlain College of Nursing (2021) not only do we need to worry about what we say but how we say it in order to convey our message to the patient or the family members. A tool that Chamberlain College of Nursing (2021) recommends is the SOLER method, which is an acronym for: Sit squarely, Open posture, Lean towards the person, Make eye contact, and Relax. To improve my communication skills, I will try to use the SOLER method when I communicate with my patients. I believe that the most effective communication tool that nurses use is the SBAR which stands for Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation. By using the SBAR method we are able to effectively handoff a patient to another nurse or give a quick report to a doctor or another member of the interdisciplinary team. According to Chamberlain College of Nursing (2021) Successful collaboration involves working with others toward a shared goal. When we work as a team with the same goal, which is the patient, we are all able to collaborate in the best interest of the patient. Thereby, we will be providing the patient with quality patient care because we will all be working to achieve the same goal. According to Bochatay, (2019) some “publications revealed that preventable adverse events due to poor communication accounted for a staggering number of deaths in hospitals” that is why we need to have effective communication between interdisciplinary teams. One effective tool that we use is the electronic medical record, here all discipline are able to see doctors’ notes, nurses’ notes, current patient medications, patient orders, diet recommendations, labs, diagnostics and other items pertinent to the patients. According to Beckman, (n.d.) “electronic records improve the overall quality of health services delivered to patients, particularly by enabling users to think more broadly and to communicate effectively.”
Reference
Beckmann, M., Dittmer, K., Jaschke, J., Karbach, U., Köberlein-Neu, J., Nocon, M., Rusniok, C., Wurster, F., & Pfaff, H. (2021). Electronic patient record and its effects on social aspects of interprofessional collaboration and clinical workflows in hospitals (eCoCo): a mixed methods study protocol. BMC Health Services Research, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-06377-5
Bochatay, N. (2019). Discussing teamwork in health care: from interprofessional collaboration to coordination and cooperation. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 36(4), 367–371. https://doi.org/10.1111/hir.12282
Chamberlain College of Nursing (2021). NR351 Transitions in Professional Nursing: Week 3 lesson. Chicago, IL: Online Publication.
Communication is a key point in the care of a patient but also how the entire healthcare team runs or collaborates. Being self aware of how we communicate is also important. I will never forget When I was in nursing school one of my classmates once told me that my face was “super judgie” which sounds like something a kid would say but it really hurt my feelings. for the most part i tend to be a more quiet person but often times it comes across as unsocial. I try to be much more aware of my nonverbal communication now, even more so in a COVID world where we are wearing masks 24/7. I work with children now and communication is so important with them because they don’t understand all of the things we do to take care of them. Its important to get on their level and to explain things in terms they can understand. often times we use different techniques in order to deescalate kids as they come into the clinic because they are scared and don’t understand what is going to happen.”Often by asking open-ended questions and listening to the responses given, professionals who are responsive to individual patient and family needs can build trust and gain a more accurate understanding of the child’s situation, history, or reason for accessing healthcare” (Levetown, 2008). As explained here, trust is also very important not only with children but with any patient. Having a good rapport with your patient helps them to feel more confident and involved with their care and makes them feel more safe in their care.
In my own practice clear and effective communication is what we strive to achieve with everyone in our office. Our clinic has front desk staff, check in staff, nurses, providers, managers, cleaning staff, and therapists. We use a charting system that also allows me to communicate through text form to our providers even while they are in a room with a patient. Many things I have learned along the way for example, having all information present before pulling the provider to the side to ask something about a patient such as vital signs, medications, situation, and records that should’ve been obtained. I am lucky to follow a nurse practitioner that I get along with so well, we are a team and we work together to care for our patients to make sure everyone felt like we have exhausted all of our resources and gotten to the root of the issues at hand. Children are our future and are at the heart of everything we do and good communication is a huge key factor in achieving every goal.
Communication is an especially important skill to have in the nursing setting or any professional setting. Non-verbal communication may be a difficult task to understand for some individuals, it all depends on the learning style. Many individuals prefer verbal communication to ask questions, or to gather the most data regarding the situation. There are many ways to communicate but the task is not communicated properly if both parties does not understand the quality of the data. The resources that I use to improve my awareness of communication skills is a leadership class, listening skills, supervisor’s evaluation, and conversating with peers and co-workers. In my opinion if communication is not done effectively, the message will not get through clearly and steps may be missed of the data to need to complete the task.
Interprofessional collaboration is helpful to plan the care for an individual. Nurses need active listening skills, good assessment skills, good documentation skills, positive attitude, and able to build rapport with an individual. Nurses are essential to each interprofessional planning care. The nurse is there with a patient providing care and can provide details of the care by their assessment of the patient. Nurses complete this task of interaction by using the SBAR method. The elements of SBAR are situation, background, assessment, and recommendations. “SBAR is a standardized communication method that has been implemented by nurses and other care providers from a number of disciplines” (Goff, S. L., Knee, A., Morello, M., Grow, D., & Bsat, F. 2014). In my own practice I use SBAR communication skill to communicate with an interprofessional team to be clear and organized to get the data to the rest of the team. It is important to me to document the data in an organized, neat, and precise manner to ensure all data is communicated effectively.
References:
Chamberlain College of Nursing (2021). NR351 Transitions in Professional Nursing: Week 3 lesson. Chicago, IL: Online Publication.
Goff, S. L., Knee, A., Morello, M., Grow, D., & Bsat, F. (2014). Handoff quality for obstetrical inpatients varies depending on time of day and provider type. The Journal of reproductive medicine, 59(3-4), 95–102.