NR-451 Week 2 Graded Discussion Topic: Communication and Influence-the Power of Evidence

CO3: Demonstrates effective communication with patients, colleagues, and other healthcare providers in managing safe/quality healthcare processes using evidence-based practices. (PO#3) Please address the following:  Describe caring attributes of the culture where you currently practice. Which attributes stand out as having significant influence on patients, nurses, and other healthcare professionals?  How do you see effective communication relating to patient outcomes in this setting? What is the evidence for this? Caring attributes in our hospital culture that stand out are those that we demonstrate to our patients but also those we demonstrate to each other. As a Magnet community hospital, we have several certified beds that puts us in the medium category for hospital size however we feel small. One of the reasons we feel small is the “journey to excellence” we embarked upon several years ago. This was a huge undertaking because it essentially worked on changing our culture to a culture of excellence that expected staff to demonstrate the following behaviors: Accountability, Service commitment, Teamwork, Respect, and Attitude. Along with these behaviors were communication components that were non negotiable and staff were held accountable for them. Part of the communication component were the following that had a tremendous impact on the organization:10 foot, 5 foot rule. This rule means that when you encounter someone ten feet away you must make eye contact and at 5 feet you must smile and say hello or some other friendly acknowledgement. This seems small, but you can walk around our hospital any time of day or night and feel like you know everyone. Another communication strategy that we implemented was never allowing a visitor to the hospital be lost or not know where they are going and when we offer to help, we must walk them to the area they are visiting. Both of these attributes demonstrate caring to our community and to each other. A compassionate and caring approach to each other is our “cozy cart”. It is supplied with donations that come from the nurses, of treats and herbal teas and it is rolled out to units in the evening or night time by nurse volunteers, so we can let our nurses on shift know we care about them providing them with a treat to help them get through the shift. This small gesture of caring from nurses to nurses has a tremendous impact