BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE COMMMUINICATION AMONG TEAM WORK IN

NURSING HAELTH CARE:

The 10 most common barriers to team communication:

- Physical separation and lack of contact among team work: When members of the

medical practice team work in different parts of the practice day after day, or if they

are in satellite offices, communication errors are more likely. Of course, it isn’t always

possible or desirable to have everyone working in the same location at the same time.

However, separation and lack of contact among team members means that

communication errors and misinterpretations are more likely to occur.

- Gender differences: A lot of media attention has been devoted in recent years to the

idea that men and women communicate differently. In fact, it has been suggested that

the communication differences are so vast that men and women must come from

different planets. Clearly, medical team communication is challenged when messages

are interpreted through a gendered lens.

- Generational differences: Miscommunication, misinterpretation, and frustration

increase when a medical practice team runs the gamut from those who remember

using a library card catalog to those who can’t remember the days before cell phones.

Different experiences and values can lead to many communication bottlenecks and

errors.

- Cultural diversity: Each of us grows up according to rules and traditions that are

specific to our nation, region, religion, and even our neighborhood or origin. We

develop cultural beliefs and values that will remain with us throughout the rest of our

lives. Our interpretation of a person’s body language, dress, and behavior can be

vastly different from what the person intends. Most of us can’t help but communicate
 and interpret communication through our own cultural perspective, causing a host of

communication misfires and miscues

- Language differences: medical practices today are more likely than ever to employ

individuals whose first language is not English. A linguistically diverse team has many

opportunities for misunderstandings. Idioms and colloquial expressions can be

especially troublesome

- Differences in values and beliefs: Members of your medical practice team may not

hold the same view on things. For example, they may have hugely different beliefs

about politics, sexual orientation, and other controversial subjects. One employee’s

offhand remark meant without harm may greatly offend another. It is challenging to

negotiate differences in values and beliefs

- Lack of trust: A fundamental lack of trust can make effective team communication

extremely challenging. When your employees don’t trust one another, they’re less

likely to communicate and share on a completely transparent level. Information isn’t

shared that needs to be, and the communication that does exist may be judged as

suspect and untrustworthy

- Trust comes into play especially when the team communicates with technology. An e-

mail, for instance, doesn’t allow members of the team to hear voice tone or to see

facial expressions. Listening comprehension on the telephone is much more difficult

than it is face-to-face, when the listener has the benefit of seeing the speaker’s lips

move. It is easy when communicating with technology for team members to make

mistakes and to read intent that isn’t there. Therefore, when technology comes into

play, it is essential that team members give one another the benefit of the doubt; they

must trust one another.

background music, or even the roar of a lawn mower or construction work outside can

weaken our ability to communicate well. An offensive odor can be “noise” that

distracts us, too, such as the scent of too much perfume or body odor. Each employee

in your practice may also be dealing with interior noise that gets in the way. For

example, an employee may have a head cold or allergies, a headache, sore muscles, or

other physical conditions that may be diverting his or her attention away from

speaking carefully and listening to others. Or an employee’s attention may be

occupied by a problem in his or her personal life, or even by being in love. Both

exterior and interior noise can interfere with team communication

- Information overload: It may seem counterintuitive, but sometimes too much

information can lead to a lack of clarity. There is a limit to how much our brains can

handle at any one time. If information is streaming by and there’s a lot to take in at

once, employees may feel bombarded with too much information. Communication is

likely to slip through the cracks in such circumstances. Tip: Too much information in

too little time especially strains communication. It takes time and attention to

communicate effectively.

- Personnal biases and prejudices: Every medical practice employee has had a

lifetime of experience long before ever setting foot in your medical practice. That’s

why even the most fair- and open-minded employee may harbor biases and prejudices

that can interfere with effective communication. For example, an employee may

believe that a colleague resembles someone from his or her past, and attribute certain

characteristics to that in dividual. Or an employee may particularly favor or dislike a

colleague because of something seemingly innocuous such as his or her name,

hairstyle, or even the car he or she drives. An employee’s personal biases and
 prejudices may cause him or her to interpret communication in ways that are untrue, or

to magnify small problems so they appear to be much larger than they are

- (Overcoming the Ten Most Common Barriers to Effective Team Communication, By

Laura Hills, DA, MARCH 2014 | PODIATRY MANAGEMENT, article)

THE IMPACT OF POOR COMMUNICATION ON TEAMWORK IN NURSING CARE:

In health care, teamwork is integral to providing safe and effective care to patients.

The importance of effective teamwork in response to the growing complexity of care

involving chronic conditions and associated co-morbidities is increasingly recognized

(St Pierre et al 2011). Most patient encounters involve more than one healthcare

professional and may involve many people, depending on the type of healthcare

problem. These individuals may include doctors, nurses, allied health professionals

and other specialist professionals. Teams from different healthcare sectors, such as

primary care, acute care, mental health or chronic care, may also be involved.

Effective communication – both verbal and written – between team members and

between different teams is essential to ensure co-operation and co-ordination of care.

Ineffective communication, which leads to poor co-operation and co-ordination of

care, is a major cause of errors and adverse events in patient care (World Health

Organization 2009). Communication errors occurring at handover, either between

team members or between different teams, may lead to inaccurate diagnosis, incorrect

treatment and/or medication errors (Wong et al 2008). Poor communication in teams

leads to team members having different perceptions of situations and of what is

required to manage them (Brady and Goldenhar 2014). Such differing perceptions of a

situation among team members may be viewed as the lack of a shared mental model,

and this has been shown to contribute to serious safety events (Gluyas and Morrison

2013, Brady and Goldenhar 2014). Moreover, a lack of effective team communication
has been shown to contribute to delayed response to deteriorating patients (Endacott et

al 2007). Patient safety in surgical interventions may be compromised if there is poor

team communication (Lyons and Popejoy 2014). This may result in serious adverse

events such as wrong patient, procedure and/or site; retained instruments; infections;

and unanticipated blood loss (Treadwell et al 2014). Thomas et al (2013) examined

data from 459 patient safety incidents relating to clinical handover in acute care

settings. They found that 28.8% of incidents involved transfer of patients without

adequate handover, 19.2% of incidents involved omissions of critical information

about the patients’ condition and 14.2% of incidents involved omission of critical

information in patients’ care plans. Poor communication is not limited to incidents in

the acute sector. It may also be a factor in poor outcomes when transferring care

between sectors, such as from primary care to the acute sector and back again (Russell

et al 2013). There is a convincing case for investing time and resources in improving

communication and teamwork in health care to improve patient safety.

-poor co-operation and co-ordination:

-Inaccurate diagnosis, incorrect treatment and/or medication errors

-different perceptions

-delayed response to deteriorating patients

-poor outcomes between sectors

(Effective communication and teamwork promotes patient safety, March 15 2015,

Gluyas H,article)