Teamwork and effective communication between all health care staff members are essential to providing safe, high-quality patient care. High-reliability organizations align behavioral expectations with organizational values and prioritize safety over other performance metrics and pressures. Communication breakdowns, such as inadequate or incomplete information shared between caregivers, continues to be an issue that is linked to errors and staff member dissatisfaction.
Four Tips to Improve Communication
Here are four tips to begin improving communication with other departments.
1. When calling another department, always identify yourself and the department or location where you are working (eg, PACU, OR A, main OR desk); for example, “This is Sara, and I am a registered nurse calling from operating room A.” The person answering the telephone may not be expecting a call or know who is calling, so identifying yourself will assist in communicating clear information and can set the tone for the conversation. Immediately listing the items needed or yelling “STAT” as soon as the telephone is answered will give the person answering a sense of frustration or confusion.
2. If using a telephone to call another department, speak clearly and slowly. Environmental noises, such as music, equipment, and instruments, and wearing a mask can reduce the clarity and volume of your voice. Be aware of your how your voice sounds; for example, if you are experiencing a stressful situation, your tone, rate, and volume may be perceived as escalated. In these situations, take a deep breath and try to calm your voice prior to calling.
3. Provide the person in the department with as much information as needed or required by facility policy and protocol. This information may be department-specific; for example, the biomedical engineering department does not need the same information as nutrition services. If you are unsure about what information is needed, ask your preceptor, charge nurse, or nursing supervisor for guidance or assistance. You also can ask the department you are calling during the conversation; if you do not have the necessary information, follow up with them after you obtain it.
4. Communicate and confirm with the department when an item is needed or an action needs to be completed (or ask when it will be possible to provide or complete). For example, when a physician requests a portable abdominal x-ray during a procedure before skin closure, communicate to the radiology department the patient’s name, the location where radiology needs to bring the portable x-ray device, the type of radiology test needed, and the approximate time needed (eg, immediately, 30 minutes, will call).
