Transcript How to Prevent Harmful Events and Promote Patient Safety

Communication for Nurses: How to Prevent Harmful Events
and Promote Patient Safety
Chapter 7
Patient Safety Risk Factors Affecting
Communication Climates
Communication for Nurses: How to Prevent Harmful Events
and Promote Patient Safety
Communication Climate Defined
The tone,
emotions, and
attitudes of
individuals in
relationships
Communication for Nurses: How to Prevent Harmful Events
and Promote Patient Safety
Patient-Safe Strategy
Before interrupting or joining a conversation between
two or more people, assess the communication
climate
Communication for Nurses: How to Prevent Harmful Events
and Promote Patient Safety
Communication Risk Factors Potentially
Create Negative Communication Climates
 Emotional risk factors
 Fear of the unknown
 Anxiety
 Sadness, grief, loss
 Anger and resentment
 Physiological risk factors
 Physical disability
 Sensory impairment/memory loss
 Sedation
 Fatigue
Communication for Nurses: How to Prevent Harmful Events
and Promote Patient Safety
Patient-Safe Strategies to Promote
Positive Communication Climates
Confirming Messages
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Recognition
Acknowledgement
Endorsement
Complement
Empathy
Communication for Nurses: How to Prevent Harmful Events
and Promote Patient Safety
Avoid Disconfirming Messages
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Unreceptive
Interruption
Irrelevant
Tangential
Impersonal
Ambiguous
You are wrong; I am right
Communication for Nurses: How to Prevent Harmful Events
and Promote Patient Safety
Illness: Affects Communication Climate
 Illness threatens self-esteem and self-worth,
resulting in high risk for negative communication
climates
 Illness threatens livelihood, role performance, and
life itself
 Illness results in alterations in tone, emotions, and
attitudes of patients, family members, and nurses
Communication for Nurses: How to Prevent Harmful Events
and Promote Patient Safety
Impact of Illness on
Communication Climate
 Physical stages of illness: Onset, course, prognosis
 Psychosocial stages: Damage to self-esteem and feelings of
worthlessness associated with loss
 Transition to illness
 Acceptance
 Convalescence
Patient responses to dependency and the sick role are
unique, based on bio-psycho-social-cultural-spiritual
makeup of the patient/family
Communication for Nurses: How to Prevent Harmful Events
and Promote Patient Safety
Transforming Negative Climates
 Encourage emotional release by empathy
 Recognize emotions; acknowledge and accept
emotional responses
 Create an atmosphere of safety and trust
through patient-safe communication process
Communication for Nurses: How to Prevent Harmful Events
and Promote Patient Safety
Empathic Conversations Between
Patient and Nurse
 Patients and families must believe nurse understands
their physical and emotional needs
 Nurse must clearly communicate to the patient that
the message sent was interpreted correctly
 Nurse must clearly communicate what needs to be
done next to manage the current situation
Communication for Nurses: How to Prevent Harmful Events
and Promote Patient Safety
Patient-Safe Communicators
 Solicit feedback— verify all messages
 Observe body language —actions speak louder
than words (face and body)
 Assess appearance —clues to physical and
emotional state (clothing and hygiene)
 Respond to the real message- “It’s not what you
say, but how you say it….”
Communication for Nurses: How to Prevent Harmful Events
and Promote Patient Safety
Patient-Safe Strategy of Empathy
Verbally and nonverbally recognize emotions
Offer support: “We’ll work on this together,”
“I’m here for you”
Communication for Nurses: How to Prevent Harmful Events
and Promote Patient Safety
Empathy vs Sympathy
Empathy means you remain
emotionally separate from the other
person: you can still be objective
Communication for Nurses: How to Prevent Harmful Events
and Promote Patient Safety
What is Sympathy?
 Taking on the other’s problems as if they were
your own
 Lose objectivity
 Can no longer solve problems (nurses are paid
to think)
 No longer therapeutic
Communication for Nurses: How to Prevent Harmful Events
and Promote Patient Safety
Managing Your Emotions to Promote
Positive Communication Climates
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Recognize your feelings
Cool off
Take responsibility for your feelings
Use “I” statements
Responding to a personal attack