Patient safety is a concept enshrined in the routine nursing undertakings and code of ethics: not only is it a responsibility and a primary duty for caregivers, but also pride and joy that they hold in their daily efforts to provide quality care. Understanding patient safety helps comprehend and devise applicable mechanisms to ensure an efficient and effective provision of quality care. Also, this understanding will help revamp the health care sector by offering alternative safeguards and safety approaches for patients within various institutions. There is a need for health facilities to continually design effective communication systems to improve patient education, which, in turn, enhances their attitudes and perception about safety. It is worth contemplating the presence of communication barriers between patients and nurses, which may potentially inhibit the former’s safety. Productive and friendly environments, especially for hospitalized patients, are characterized by effective communication channels between patients and caregivers ( Hurtig et al., 2019 ). The purpose of this work is to discuss the various potential communicative barriers between nurses and patients, including language barriers as well as those arising from patients with special needs and pediatric patients.
Language Barriers
There exist several patient-nurse communication barriers that are worth contemplating to fully grasp their implications on general patient safety in various settings such as health institutions and homes. Key barriers include patients’ or nurses’ reluctance to communicate, hectic environment, physical discomfort or lack of necessary communication skills in specific settings. Other barriers include systemic complexities such as physical difficulty in accessing caregivers’ call systems ( Hurtig et al., 2019 ). While the general cause of a significant number of these barriers is in accessing the patient's chronic disability, there exists considerable causation deriving from patients’ admitting condition. Mostly, patients who can have “independent access to the call system and ability to communicate with nurses responded significantly more positively than patients with no access” ( Hurtig et al., 2019 ).
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Patient with Special Needs
There is a need to implement strategies that will ensure a smooth communication channel between patients with social needs and nurses. Gutman et al. (2018) recommend a motivation system for caregivers working with special needs patients. Also, institutions should offer training on effective communication mechanisms for nurses.
Pediatric Patients
Pediatric patient are a categorization that encompasses infants, children, and adolescents. Communication barriers mostly involve language such as individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP). Gutman et al. (2018) argue that such patients are increasing in unprecedented rates in the United States and other parts of the world and have taken a significant portion of the emergency department utilization. Thus, there is a need to address the inhibiting factors to smooth communication between pediatric patients and caregivers and seek ways to combat them.
Reference
Gutman, C. K., Cousins, L., Gritton, J., Klein, E. J., Brown, J. C., Scannell, J., & Lion, K. C. (2018). Professional interpreter use and discharge communication in the pediatric emergency department. Academic pediatrics , 18 (8), 935-943.
Hurtig, R. R., Alper, R. M., Bryant, K. N., Davidson, K. R., & Bilskemper, C. (2019). Improving Patient Safety and Patient-Provider Communication. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups , 4 (5), 1017-1027. DOI: 10.1044/2019_PERS-SIG12-2019-0021
