This paper examines the role of communication between nurses and other healthcare professionals in delivering safe, quality patient care, with a focus on the operating room setting. Drawing on a personal clinical experience involving a new nurse who failed to report a patient's cardiac history before surgery, the paper analyzes factors that contributed to a breakdown in communication, including perceived tone, lack of collaboration, and inadequate professional preparation. The paper argues that vocal elements, non-verbal cues, and mutual trust are critical to effective interprofessional communication, and concludes with a call for structured communication education in hospital settings.
Communication between nurses is an important instrument that enables professionals to deliver safe, quality healthcare as a team. Provision of quality healthcare in hospitals therefore depends entirely on the capability of health practitioners to communicate efficiently with one another. However, little healthcare education addresses interprofessional communication, and this gap may account for a significant number of major medical errors. Communication is especially significant given the interdependence of professionals and the important role they play in providing quality patient care. Various factors constitute effective and ineffective communication (Manjlovich, Antonakos, and Ronis, 2010). Respect is a factor that may facilitate effective communication, while negligence is a factor that may contribute to ineffective communication.
The operating room is a crucial facility in the hospital setting. Many of the errors that arise there result from failed communication between nurses, the broader healthcare team, and the patient. There are also specific situational factors that may bring about failed communication in the operating room — particularly when one is working with a new nurse, or when a nurse is relieving another from a shift. In such cases, it is essential to provide a correct and complete assessment regarding any patient who is about to undergo an operation. A personal experience working with a new nurse in the operating room offers a clear example of why effective communication between health professionals is so critically important.
The new nurse had been in orientation for eight months — two months longer than the usual six months for nurses. She was also significantly experienced, having worked as a nurse for nine complete years. This suggests that she must have interacted with many physicians, nurses, and patients throughout her career. Through that experience, she should have developed proficiency in caring for patients and offering assistance to other health practitioners when needed. It is also reasonable to expect that a nurse with such a background would have encountered patients suffering from a wide range of illnesses, and would understand the importance of accuracy in clinical reporting.
However, when working with this nurse, I was disappointed by her approach. As standard practice, I accompanied her to one of the patient's rooms to collect relevant patient information — a routine carried out in nearly every hospital at specified intervals. When she gave me the report on the next patient, it was apparent that she had not been thorough. She had not checked the patient's laboratory dates, which turned out to be a year old. More critically, she did not inform me that the patient had a cardiac history that had not been cleared.
Owing to this oversight, I needed to address the situation directly with the new nurse. I was disappointed because, given her experience, I had expected greater diligence. Drawing on my own experience, I knew how to handle the situation and asked her to clarify why she had not included the patient's cardiac history in her report. The nurse, however, misinterpreted my message and claimed I was shouting at her. Since the patient was about to have an operation, she also claimed I was trying to embarrass her in front of the surgeon, which was not my intention. The nurse ultimately retained the position, but the episode revealed serious communication difficulties.
"Perception, defensiveness, and lack of collaboration"
"Tone, trust, and face-to-face versus electronic communication"
It is important to encourage proficiency in communication skills in the healthcare field. Owing to the fact that nurse-to-nurse communication is a significant element for achieving high-quality care and patient safety, hospital management should design learning practices concerning communication education (Urseny, 2007). The case presented here is instructive: the nurse had neglected to check important patient information, and the failure to flag a cardiac history demonstrates a serious lapse in professional diligence. Furthermore, her perception that my inquiry was an act of disrespect — rather than a necessary clinical check — reveals that she was inadequately prepared in the area of professional communication.
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