Effective communication is important for the promotion of patient safety. Effective communication entails the healthcare providers being able to share their ideas and concerns freely for the improvement of quality and safety of care. The effectiveness of communication demonstrated by those involved in the case study varied. For example, the communication used by operating room supervisor was effective. The supervisor used the right channel of communication to raise the clinical issue. The supervisor was keen to report the increased risk of safety concern with the care that the patient received. The director of hospital, scrub nurse, chief of surgery, and Dr. Cutrite demonstrated poor communication. The director of the hospital has never taken any action including informing Dr. Cutrite about his declining performance in the provision of care. The director also failed in initiating the right responsive actions to address the issue. The director of surgery and Dr. Cutrite demonstrated poor communication by failing to propose an effective solution to the case. The scrub nurse also demonstrated poor communication by failing to raise the alarm after the surgery about the missing equipment.
A number of communication approaches could have been used in the case study. One of them is encouraging open communication. Those involved in the case study should have been given the freedom to express their concerns. Open communication allows for facilitative and constructive discussions on ways of improving care in the unit . Assertive communication could have also eliminated the issues identified in the case study. Assertive communication ensures that nurses become patient advocates. Assertiveness ensures that nurses and other healthcare providers demonstrate honesty in their relationship with others (Ulutasdemir, 2018). The scrub nurse could have utilized assertive communication in raising the discrepancies in surgical counts after the procedure. Effective communication is associated with a number of outcomes. They include enhanced safety of care, improved efficiency, patient satisfaction, and improved adherence to treatment. Effective communication also strengthens inter-professional collaboration, creates the desired organizational culture, and reduces the risk of morbidity and mortalities in healthcare (Abdolrahimi et al., 2017). Communication approaches that should be avoided in the clinical settings include authoritative communication, use of medical jargons that might be new to others and lack of attention to others’ perceptions towards care. Non-effective communication approaches have been shown to increase the risk of safety issues, patient and provider dissatisfaction with care, poor treatment adherence from the patients, and the mortality and morbidity rates in health organizations (Tiwary et al., 2019).
The effectiveness of the approaches used by the professionals in the case study varies. The operating room supervisor demonstrated effective professional responsibility in the actions he took. The supervisor informed the hospital director about the issue and the need for an action to be taken. The hospital director, scrub nurse, director of surgery, and Dr. Cutrite however did not demonstrate professionalism in responding to the case. The hospital director informed the director of surgery about the issue but failed to explore an effective course of action. Dr. Cutrite demonstrated inaction by failing to provide an effective solution to address the issue. The scrub nurse did not uphold the stated professional obligations by failing to notify the team on time about the missing equipment. Therefore, this case study has a number of lessons that can influence nursing and healthcare as a whole. The first lesson is the importance of inter-professional communication. Effective inter-professional communication that is characterized by openness and honesty should be promoted in practice. The case study also raises the need for effective organizational culture. The culture should promote patient safety and efficiency in healthcare. Lastly, it raises the need for professional responsibility from the healthcare providers.
Ethical principles of justice, non-maleficence, benevolence, autonomy, and justice should be considered in selecting the appropriate solution to the case study. The most appropriate decision that should be adopted as it incorporates these principles is recalling the patient for further assessment. The decision promotes the principle of beneficence by ensuring that care decisions that protect the best interest of the patients are made. The decision will demonstrate kindness and caring attitude in the organization. The principle of beneficence will therefore be promoted since
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