IMPROVING NURSE-PHYSICIAN COMMUNICATION
PROBLEM
In the medical field, communication between nurses and physicians can
be the difference between the life and death of a patient. Lack of
communication is an issue that affects the healthcare professionals,
patients, and workplace as a whole. Effective communication is the key
to being successful as a team, whether it be in life or the medical field.
Implementing this research on improving nurse-physician
communication will impact the medical field by improving the
workplace experience, as well as patient care efficiency.
60%
Lack of communication
was reported as the
leading cause of sixty
percent of medical errors
METHODOLOGY
Research from Developing and Testing a Tool to Measure Nurse-
physician Communication in the Intensive Care Unit influenced my
decision to implement both quantitative surveys and qualitative
interviews. Researchers commented that, qualitative analyses
corroborated quantitative findings and demonstrated the importance of
contextual influences on nurse-physician communication. Guided
interviews of nurses and physicians in addition to questionnaires on the
topic of nurse-physician communication will not only provide opinions
on the issue and its importance, but the professionals views on the
most effective theoretical solutions.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The literature review is broken into two categories: informational literature and literature
related to theoretical solutions. Informative literature is beneficial in providing the basis of
the problem, its causes, and possible solutions. Literature related to research on theoretical
solutions is valuable in being the base for the methodology in this study. Using the
information, conclusions, and approaches from multiple studies will increase the accuracy of
this study by understanding what other researchers have in common, and what they could
improve on.
In an article from the MEDSURG Nursing Journal by Cassandra Flicek, Communication: A
Dynamic between Nurses and Physicians, she writes about the background of the nurse-
physician dynamic, its barriers, and provides evidence-based, practice solutions. From
Bridging the Gap between Doctors and Nurses, Katrina McKay and Seshasayee
Narasimhan argues that background, education, roles, and responsibilities are major
components in the gap between doctors and nurses that cause miscommunication in the
medical field.
On literature related to theoretical solutions, Implications of Nurse-physician Relations:
Report of a Successful Intervention states that, collaborative relations among nurses and
physicians result in improved patient outcomes (Tschannen et al., 2011, p. 134). When
nurses and physicians worked together on a solution to a problem, collaboration emerged and
communication became more equal (p. 134). Medical journals as well as online articles
provided information, examples, causes, and solutions to bring nurses and physicians
together (Shannon & Myers, 2012, p. 24).
DISCUSSION
With the qualitative information form the interviews along with the
quantitative results from the nurse questionnaire and physician
questionnaire, I can hypothesize the favored theoretical solutions for
physicians will be an improved and structured communication tools,
while the nurses will favor Inter-professional education (IPE) between
nurses and physicians and undergraduate level communication classes.
From the research I gathered, both nurses and physicians agree effective
communication is important and is an issue, but the extremities and ways
to solve the issue are different. The most effective way to improve nurse-
physician communication will be by implementing multiple steps before
the nurses and physicians step on the medical floor together. Inter-
professional education (IPE) between nurses and physicians and a
required nurse-physician communication class for students entering the
medical field at an undergraduate level as well as steps to ensure effective
communication in the workplace by required participation in an annual
teamwork training program focused on the development of: leadership,
situation monitoring, mutual support, and communication (ex:
TeamSTEPPS)
PROJECTED RESULTS
Although the quantitative research process is yet to be concluded, the
qualitative research process of interviewing both a nurse and physician
has provided enough information to make an educated hypothesis of
my projected results. When interviewing Brad Paetz M.D., he
described his personal experiences and opinion on the issue of nurse-
physician communication. He prefers working with nurses with more
experience, because they are more decisive with what is important, and
what is not. He suggests that along with experience, integrated training
will improve the communication. When interviewing Kirsten Thornhill
RN, BSN, she felt that there is a pressure on nurses to know the
physicians and what they want individually. She stresses that because
physicians and nurses are trained to relay information differently in
professional school, it causes tension and miscommunication in the
workplace.