Communication In The Health Care Environment Essay

Assessment 4 Instructions: Improvement Plan Tool Kit

For this assessment, you will develop a Word document or an online resource repository of at least 12 annotated professional or scholarly resources that you consider critical for the audience of your safety improvement plan, pertaining to medication administration, to understand or implement to ensure the success of the plan.Communication In The Health Care Environment Essay

Communication in the health care environment consists of an information-sharing experience whether through oral or written messages (Chard, Makary, 2015). As health care organizations and nurses strive to create a culture of safety and quality care, the importance of interprofessional collaboration, the development of tool kits, and the use of wikis become more relevant and vital. In addition to the dissemination of information and evidence-based findings and the development of tool kits, continuous support for and availability of such resources are critical. Among the most popular methods to promote ongoing dialogue and information sharing are blogs, wikis, websites, and social media. Nurses know how to support people in time of need or crisis and how to support one another in the workplace; wikis in particular enable nurses to continue that support beyond the work environment. Here they can be free to share their unique perspectives, educate others, and promote health care wellness at local and global levels (Kaminski, 2016).
You are encouraged to complete the Determining the Relevance and Usefulness of Resources activity prior to developing the repository. This activity will help you determine which resources or research will be most relevant to address a particular need. This may be useful as you consider how to explain the purpose and relevance of the resources you are assembling for your tool kit. The activity is for your own practice and self-assessment, and demonstrates course engagement.Communication In The Health Care Environment Essay
Demonstration of Proficiency
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:

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Competency 1: Analyze the elements of a successful quality improvement initiative.
Analyze usefulness of resources for role group responsible for implementing quality and safety improvements with medication administration.
Competency 2: Analyze factors that lead to patient safety risks.
Analyze the value of resources to reduce patient safety risk or improve quality with medication administration.
Competency 3: Identify organizational interventions to promote patient safety.
Identify necessary resources to support the implementation and sustainability of a safety improvement initiative focusing on medication administration.
Competency 5: Apply professional, scholarly, evidence-based strategies to communicate in a manner that supports safe and effective patient care.
Present compelling reasons and relevant situations for resource tool kit to be used by its target audience.
Communicate in a clear, logically structured, and professional manner, using current APA style and formatting.
References
Chard, R., Makary, M. A. (2015). Transfer-of-care communication: Nursing best practices. AORN Journal, 102(4), 329-342.
Kaminski, J. (2016). Why all nurses can/should be authors. Canadian Journal of Nursing Informatics, 11(4), 1-7.
Professional Context
Nurses are often asked to implement processes, concepts, or practices – sometimes with little preparatory communication or education. One way to encourage sustainability of quality and process improvements is to assemble an accessible, user-friendly tool kit for knowledge and process documentation. Creating a resource repository or tool kit is also an excellent way to follow up an educational or in-service session, as it can help to reinforce attendees’ new knowledge as well as the understanding of its value. By practicing creating a simple online tool kit, you can develop valuable technology skills to improve your competence and efficacy. This technology is easy to use, and resources are available to guide you.
Scenario
For this assessment, consider taking one of these two approaches:Communication In The Health Care Environment Essay

Build on the work done in your first three assessments and create an online tool kit or resource repository that will help the audience of your in-service understand the research behind your safety improvement plan pertaining to medication administration and put the plan into action.
Locate a safety improvement plan (your current organization, the Institution for Healthcare Improvement, or a publicly available safety improvement initiative) pertaining to medication administration and create an online tool kit or resource repository that will help an audience understand the research behind the safety improvement plan and how to put the plan into action.
Preparation
Google Sites is recommended for this assessment – the tools are free to use and should offer you a blend of flexibility and simplicity as you create your online tool kit. Please note that this requires a Google account; use your Gmail or GoogleDocs login, or create an account following the directions under the “Create Account” menu.
Refer to the following links to help you get started with Google Sites:Communication In The Health Care Environment Essay

G Suite Learning Center. (n.d.). Get started with Sites. Retrieved from https://gsuite.google.com/learning-center/products/sites/get-started/#!/
Google. (n.d.). ;Google Sites. Retrieved from https://sites.google.com
Google. (n.d.). ;Sites help. Retrieved from https://support.google.com/sites/?hl=en#topic=
Instructions
Using Google Sites, assemble an online resource tool kit containing at least 12 annotated resources that you consider critical to the success of your safety improvement initiative. These resources should enable nurses and others to implement and maintain the safety improvement you have developed.
It is recommended that you focus on the 3 or 4 most critical categories or themes with respect to your safety improvement initiative pertaining to medication administration. For example, for an ;initiative that concerns improving workplace safety for practitioners, you might choose broad themes such as general organizational safety and quality best practices; environmental safety and quality risks; individual strategies to improve personal and team safety; and process best practices for reporting and improving environmental safety issues.
Following the recommended scheme, you would collect 3 resources on average for each of the 4 categories focusing on safety with medication administration. Each resource listing should include ;the following:Communication In The Health Care Environment Essay

An APA-formatted citation of the resource with a working link.
A description of the information, skills, or tools provided by the resource.
A brief explanation of how the resource can help nurses better understand or implement the safety improvement initiative pertaining to medication administration.
A description of how nurses can use this resource and when its use may be appropriate.
Remember that you must make your site public so that your faculty can access it. Check out the Google Sites resources for more information.
Here is an example entry:

Merret, A., Thomas, P., Stephens, A., ;Moghabghab, R., Gruneir, M. (2011). A collaborative approach to fall prevention. Canadian Nurse, 107(8), 24-29. Retrieved from www.canadian-nurse.com/articles/issues/2011/october-2011/a-collaborative-ap
This article presents the Geriatric Emergency Management-Falls Intervention Team (GEM-FIT) project. It shows how a collaborative nurse lead project can be implemented and used to improve collaboration and interdisciplinary teamwork, as well as improve the delivery of health care services. This resource is likely more useful to nurses as a resource for strategies and models for assembling and participating in an interdisciplinary team than for specific fall-prevention strategies. It is suggested that this resource be reviewed prior to creating an interdisciplinary team for a collaborative project in a health care setting.
Additionally, be sure that your plan addresses the following, which corresponds to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. Please study the scoring guide carefully so you understand what is needed for a distinguished score.Communication In The Health Care Environment Essay

Identify necessary resources to support the implementation and continued sustainability of a safety improvement initiative pertaining to medication administration.
Analyze the usefulness of resources to the role group responsible for implementing quality and safety improvements focusing on medication administration.
Analyze the value of resources to reduce patient safety risk related to medication administration.
Present compelling reasons and relevant situations for use of resource tool kit by its target audience.
Communicate in a clear, logically structured, and professional manner that applies current APA style and formatting.
Example Assessment: You may use the following example to give you an idea of what a Proficient or higher rating on the scoring guide would look like but keep in mind that your tool kit will focus on promoting safety with medication administration. Note that you do not have to submit your bibliography in addition to the Google Site; the example bibliography is merely for your reference.Communication In The Health Care Environment Essay

Assessment 4 Example [PDF].
To submit your online tool kit assessment, paste the link to your Google Site in the assessment submission box.
Example Google Site: You may use the example Google Site, Resources for Safety and Improvement Measures in Geropsychiatric Care, to give you an idea of what a Proficient or higher rating on the scoring guide would look like for this assessment but keep in mind that your tool kit will focus on promoting safety with medication administration.
Note: If you experience technical or other challenges in completing this assessment, please contact your faculty member.
Additional Requirements

APA formatting: References and citations are formatted according to current APA style

Portfolio Prompt: Remember to save the final assessment to your ePortfolio so that you may refer to it as you complete the final Capstone course.Communication In The Health Care Environment Essay

Use the scoring guide to understand how your assessment will be evaluated.

prohibited.
which will help them adopt reflective thinking, develop a safety culture, and therefore
qualitatively improve practices in critical health units such as geropsychiatry units.
Fleiszer, A. R., Semenic, S. E., Ritchie, J. A., Richer, M.-C., & Denis, J.-L. (2016). A unit-level
perspective on the long-term sustainability of a nursing best practice guidelines
program: An embedded multiple case study. International Journal of Nursing Studies,
53, 204–218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2015.09.004
This article helps analyze the sustainability of a best practice guidelines program
implemented in acute health care settings. The sustainability of the program was
characterized by the following: benefits for patients as the rate of incidence of falls
reduced; routinization of best practices as the team’s adherence to guidelines improved;
and, in the long term, the development of the team’s adaptability to changes in
circumstances that threatened the program. Seven key factors that accounted for the
sustainability of the program were also identified. The source explains how
relationships between the characteristics of sustainability (benefits, routinization, and
development) and the seven key factors contributed toward the sustainability of the
improvement program. This source is valuable for nursing students as it helps them
understand how safety programs can be sustained to ensure the long-term reduction of
the incidence of sentinel events in geropsychiatric units.
Kossaify, A., Hleihel, W., & Lahoud, J.-C. (2017). Team-based efforts to improve quality of
care, the fundamental role of ethics, and the responsibility of health managers:
Monitoring and management strategies to enhance teamwork. Public Health, 153, 91–98.Communication In The Health Care Environment Essay
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2017.08.007
I

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infrastructural changes such as the use of geriatric-friendly sanitary ware such as raised
toilet seats helped reduce the rate of incidence of falls. Although all the changes may not
be feasible in a given setup, many of the strategies mentioned in this study could serve as
a starting point for the prevention of falls. The article helps nursing students understand
the challenges that occur in an adult mental health unit and the quality improvement
measures taken to resolve these challenges.
Wong Shee, A., Phillips, B., Hill, K., & Dodd, K. (2014). Feasibility, acceptability, and
effectiveness of an electronic sensor bed/chair alarm in reducing falls in patients with
cognitive impairment in a subacute ward. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 29(3), 253–
262. https://doi.org/10.1097/NCQ.0000000000000054
This source is a preliminary study conducted to determine the effectiveness of electronic
sensor bed/chair alarms to reduce the occurrence of falls in patients with cognitive
impairment. These alarms can be attached to the patient’s body or to the bed/chair the
patient uses to alert the nursing staff every time the patients move or leave their seat.
Nurses were educated about the alarms and asked to document their observations and
provide feedback. Although effective at preventing falls in patients with cognitive
impairment, the electronic sensors needed improvements such as the elimination of cords
that may be hazardous to patients and the additional provision of alerting nurses through
pagers. This source helps nursing students understand both the effectiveness and the
limitations of electronic sensor alarms in reducing the occurrence of falls.Communication In The Health Care Environment Essay
Chari, S. R., Smith, S., Mudge, A., Black, A. A., Figueiro, M., Ahmed, M., . . . Haines, T. P.
(2016). Feasibility of a stepped wedge cluster RCT and concurrent observational sub-
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study to evaluate the effects of modified ward night lighting on inpatient fall rates and
sleep quality: A protocol for a pilot trial. Pilot and Feasibility Studies, 2(1).
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40814-015-0043-x
Inadequate lighting at night in geropsychiatric wards is one of the important causes of
falls in geropsychiatric units. Psychotropic medications can cause cognitive impairments
and blurring of vision, which can be aggravated by dim lighting in the units. The article
presents a trial pilot study conducted to evaluate the effects of the use of modified night
lighting in inpatient wards to prevent falls. LED lights were installed in the vicinity of the
beds and the toilets, where falls were likely to occur. The study provides valuable insights
that could inform design and refurbishment efforts at geropsychiatric units. An important
limitation of the study is that a stepped wedge, cluster randomized controlled trial has not
yet been applied to test environmental modifications in any setting. However, the
modifications discussed could still be implemented as an important intervention strategy
for preventing falls in older adults with cognitive impairment.
Staff-Led Preventive Strategies
Morgan, L., Flynn, L., Robertson, E., New, S., Forde‐Johnston, C., & McCulloch, P. (2016).
Intentional rounding: A staff‐led quality improvement intervention in the prevention of
patient falls. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 26(1–2), 115–124.
https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.13401
This article highlights an intervention strategy called intentional rounding to reduce the
occurrence of inpatient falls. Intentional rounding is a specific strategy in which nurses
conduct a routine check on patients at certain time intervals based on the needs of the
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patient. The rounding was implemented through effective communication and teamwork
among the nursing staff and iterations of plan-do-check-act measures. This proactive
staff-led strategy helped reduce the rate of falls by 50%. This study achieved success
through the combined efforts of the research team that conducted the analysis of the
system to design the rounding format and the frontline nursing staff who conducted the
intentional rounds. Although its sample size was small and not entirely representative, the
study does establish intentional rounding as an effective falls-prevention strategy, which
when implemented with adequate staff engagement and support from leadership
definitively reduces the occurrence of falls.
Moncada, L. V. V., & Mire, G. L. (2017). Preventing falls in older persons. Am Fam Physician,
96(4), 240–247. Retrieved from https://www.aafp.org/afp/2017/0815/p240.pdf
The article posits that a history of falls in older persons is associated with an increased
risk of a future fall. The American Geriatrics Society recommends that older adults aged
65 and above should undergo annual screening for balance impairment and a history of
falls as a preliminary intervention for the prevention of falls. The article also highlights
an algorithm developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The
algorithm suggests assessment and multifactorial interventions to prevent falls in patients
who have had more than two falls and more than one fall-related injury. The
multifactorial interventions include exercise routines that include balance and gait
training, the use of vitamin D supplements with or without calcium based on the
community in which the patients dwell, and the management of psychotropic medication.
These interventions have been known to cause a significant decrease in the rate of falls
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and can be implemented across all geropsychiatric wards to prevent sentinel events. The
source is authentic and hence can be referred to by nursing students to understand
multifactorial interventions in the prevention of falls.
Isaac, L. M., Buggy, E., Sharma, A., Karberis, A., Maddock, K. M., & Weston, K. M. (2018).
Enhancing hospital care of patients with cognitive impairment. International Journal of
Health Care Quality Assurance, 31(2), 173–186. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHCQA-11-
2016-0173
This paper evaluates the TOP5 intervention strategy of improving patient care. The
strategy involves engaging with carers of geriatric patients (individuals who are family
members or friends of the patients) to collect characteristic non-clinical information
about patients to personalize care and reduce falls. The carers of patients narrated to the
nursing staff five important and distinct characteristic details such as the patients’ needs
and past emotional experiences. The nursing staff then prepared a customized plan of
care for each patient based on this information. This study reported a significant
reduction in falls and qualitatively improved care. The study enables nursing students to
meaningfully involve the carers of cognitively impaired patients and reduce the incidence
of falls.
Best Practices for Reporting and Improving Environmental Safety Issues
Tan, A. K. (2015). Emphasizing caring components in nurse-patient-nurse bedside reporting.
International Journal of Caring Sciences, 8(1), 188–193. Retrieved from
https://library.capella.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.proquest.com%2Fdocvie
w%2F1648623547%3Faccountid=27965
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This source provides a review of strategies that improve bedside reporting and transfer of
duties after a change of shift among nursing staff. The source also emphasizes team
engagement that can help reduce the incidence of sentinel events, especially in health
care units such as geropsychiatry units. Bedside reporting is a vital concern in
geropsychiatric units as patients are prone to behavioral changes and unpredictable
behavior may affect other patients in the unit. During a shift change, the nursing staff can
alert the incoming staff about the condition of such patients to proactively prepare the
staff to address any forthcoming issue. Barriers to bedside reporting were also analyzed,
and barriers perceived by patients and those perceived by nurses were identified. These
barriers can be eliminated through open communication and by educating the nursing
staff. The article provides a valuable discussion of factors that influence bedside
reporting such as patient-centered care philosophy, guidelines of the Joint Commission
Institute, demand for patient participation in making health care decisions, and the
shortcomings of traditional handover practices.
Stergiopoulos, S., Brown, C. A., Felix, T., Grampp, G., & Getz, K. A. (2016). A survey of
adverse event reporting practices among US healthcare professionals. Drug Safety,Communication In The Health Care Environment Essay
39(11), 1117–1127. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40264-016-0455-4
This article highlights the severity of underreporting of adverse drug events. An adverse
drug event is defined by the World Health Organization as “a response to a medicine
which is noxious and unintended, and which occurs at doses normally used in man.”
Adverse drug events are estimated to cause 7,000 deaths across health care settings in the
United States each year. It is also said that half of these adverse drug events result from
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preventable medication errors. The article also identifies factors that lead to the
underreporting of the adverse drug events such as lack of training among health care
professionals and standardized reporting processes. Underreporting of adverse drug
events can be a critical problem, especially in health care units such as geropsychiatry
units. Individual patients may react differently to psychotropic drugs; reactions may
include overdoses or allergic reactions. These reactions need to be monitored closely and
reported efficiently to avoid complications including falls. Nursing students can
understand the importance of reporting adverse drug events through this source.
Lozito, M., Whiteman, K., Swanson-Biearman, B., Barkhymer, M., & Stephens, K. (2018).
Good catch campaign: Improving the perioperative culture of safety. AORN Journal,
107(6), 705–714. https://doi.org/10.1002/aorn.12148
This article provides evidence-based results to show that the culture of safety in a
perioperative unit was improved after implementing the good catch campaign. Good
catch is the ability of nursing staff to point out mistakes and report them to avoid sentinel
events. The campaign described in the article involves implementing a standardized
electronic reporting system and debriefing process. The nursing staff discusses the plan
of care for each patient at the end of the day during debriefing. This helps the nursing
staff note characteristic risks involved with each patient and provide better care. Training
nursing staff to implement the good catch campaign in health care units such as
geropsychiatry units should enable the effective reporting of factors that could cause falls
with a view to avoid them. This source enables nursing students to implement electronic
reporting systems to report good catches and thereby reduce falls.Communication In The Health Care Environment Essay

Communication plays a vital role in the healthcare setting, as the relationship with the healthcare professional sets the tone of the care experience and has a powerful impact on patient satisfaction. It is “the shared process in which messages are sent and received between two or more people which are made up of a sender, receiver, and message in a particular context” (cite, date). This essay highlights the importance of, and some common barriers to, effective communication in the healthcare setting. It involves many interpersonal skills such as effective observation, questioning and listening, giving feedback, recognizing and removing barriers. During treatment, patients interact more with nurses than any other health professional in…show more content…
Problems with verbal communication in the healthcare setting emerge from the fact that nurses and others in the healthcare setting receive little education on how to communicate effectively with each other. Each nurse also has specific ideas or beliefs about what information should be communicated during a verbal report. Valuable information may not be provided or may be forgotten (Casey & Wallis, 2011). Writing information down may help a nurse recall the data later, but if there is no consistent format for recording the information, it may be lost regardless. Interruptions, distractions, and the frequency of communications also may negatively effect the communication process and contribute to a nurse forgetting to share important information (Cacolice-Hildebrand, 2008). Active listening, which involves reflecting back a meaningful understanding of one’s message, is one of the most important skills in effective communication. Non-verbal communication refers to the communication and interpretation of information by any means other than language. Non-verbal communication includes communication through any behavioral or expressive channel of communication such as facial expression, bodily movements, vocal tone and pitch, and many other channels. Patients are particularly sensitive to nurses’ non-verbal behaviors because they are often nervous and insecure and

Effective communication occurs when all of the basic communication elements, including the sender, channel, receiver, and the message, are unambiguous. In other words, the sender needs to transfer a clear message through an appropriate channel, so the receiver can understand the message without misinterpreting it. Every communication process is an interaction between the sender and receiver. To send messages effectively, the sender needs to avoid communication gaps, such as cultural differences and aggressive confrontation, and focus on giving an unambiguous message to the receiver through different communication channels. Because non-verbal communication is a significant part of daily communication, both verbal messages and non-verbal channels need to be in alignment to avoid sending ambiguous messages (Knapp & Hall, 2009).Communication In The Health Care Environment Essay
In healthcare, effective communication is essential for patient safety, conflict resolution, respecting cultural diversity, taking in account socioeconomic differences, formulating evidence-based practices, and promoting positive treatment outcomes. According to a focus group study by Robinson, Gorman, Slimmer, and Yudkowsky (2010), clarity of the messages, calm behavior during stress, and mutual respect are the key factors of successful communication while discrimination among individuals and cultural barriers encourage ineffective communication. Although the study focused on interactions between nurses and physicians, the same characteristics of effective communication can be used in communicating with patients.
While the basic elements of communication are also present in healthcare communication, using basic elements alone would lead to an impersonal communication that would fail to build trust with patients and have a negative impact on treatment outcomes. First, it is important to realize that healthcare practitioners are not always senders, but the roles of senders and receivers needs to alternate between patients and providers because the goal is to provide psychosocial support to the patient and form a collaborative relationship. When psychosocial support is implemented through communication in addition to the treatment, both physical and emotional health outcomes significantly improve (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [U.S. DHHS], 2013), so being a good receiver is an important communication skill for healthcare providers.
Second, healthcare practitioners need to take in account cultural differences, linguistic differences, and limited health literacy when communicating with patients. These aspects can be considered the basic elements of healthcare communication because they are critical for effective communication. Several strategies can be used at the organizational level to improve communication with patients. For example, organizational policies could recommend avoiding medical terms when disclosing information to patients, and discharge papers can be written in plain English to improve the patients’ understanding of their conditions (Huff, 2011).Communication In The Health Care Environment Essay
Healthcare providers also need to be able to encourage patients to communicate candidly, which means communication needs to be straightforward and open. When dealing with reluctant patients, it is important to ask them questions and encourage them to share their thoughts and needs. Research showed that when patients are asked about their opinions and granted the ability to share their situation, they are more likely to engage in open communication, and their emotional health improves significantly (U.S. DHHS, 2013). Furthermore, sharing more information about the patients’ conditions, offering support, and presenting accurate and realistic information about their treatments and prognoses was associated with higher treatment adherence and success rates (U.S. DHHS, 2013).
In order to achieve openness in communication, the providers need to maintain an open and honest communication with patients. For example, when physicians disclose accurate and complete information when reporting bad outcomes, families and patients are less likely going to take legal action if they believe the physician was honest (U.S. DHHS, 2013). According to the U.S. DHHS (2013), physicians who were never sued always provided emotional support, communicated with patients honestly, and built personal relationships that took the patients’ desires and opinions into consideration. Apart from fewer legal costs, physicians who communicated with their patients effectively had higher treatment success rates than physicians who failed to consider the patients’ cultural backgrounds or personal needs (U.S. DHHS, 2013).
Cultural differences often determine how healthcare providers need to frame their information to patients. For example, Carrese and Rhodes (2000) studied effective communication with Navajo patients and found that several strategies should be used to prepare the patients for discussions, such as stating beforehand that disclosing negative information is not a personal affair and that no harm is meant to the patient, and that it is always better to frame information in a positive manner whenever possible. Whenever healthcare providers engage in cross-cultural communications, they should be familiar with the cultural values and beliefs of their patients, and they should ask advice from third parties if they are uncertain how to disclose information to patients from different cultures (Carrese & Rhodes, 2000).Communication In The Health Care Environment Essay
In the context of healthcare, communication needs to be clear and unambiguous, but the ways of presenting information to patients and the communication process need to be adjusted to improve treatment outcomes and promote patient safety. Health literacy and the patients’ opinions should be considered because a two-way communication process is needed to build a trustworthy relationship and improve patient engagement in the treatment. Cultural diversity should also be respected, and all healthcare providers need to frame information and discussions in a manner that is appropriate for the patients’ cultural backgrounds. Communication In The Health Care Environment Essay