Introduction
Communication in almost any nursing setting can be extremely complicated. From internal power dynamics, which structure the transition of information in healthcare organizations, to postoperative patient readmission, which might devalue previous efforts of clinicians – the pressure on nurses is high. The “Early Discharge Education to Post-Op Patients to Reduce Post-Op Calls” is an important project that can potentially benefit both healthcare personnel and patients. However, in order for the project to be a success, it should be properly presented and monitored.
The project involves four different positions – Vice President of Nursing, Director of Nursing, Nurse Manager, and Registered Nurses. All people holding these positions should stay informed about the progress of the project. However, each of them also requires a unique approach in order to maximize the efficiency of communication. Understanding what is the best way to present the project to its participants is essential in ascertaining the most effective ways of communicating with them.
Variety of Communication Needs for Team Members
The entirety of communication means is depicted in Appendix A. The project manager will provide nurses with objective feedback about flaws in their pre-operative work. Clinicians should also undergo specific online training organized by the manager to educate patients about self-care. The communication process with nurses can occur during zoom workshops, at the end of which, individual performance feedback and suggestions for improvement can be delivered to them by the project manager. Notably, post-op individuals require a unique approach to communication to ensure that the provided knowledge is adequately understood. Patients prefer to have an in-person consultation, but providing valuable data in writing is also helpful in health communication (Berry et al., 2018). Therefore, the project manager will recommend teaching patients in person before and after surgeries in oral and written form so that these individuals know the basics of self-care.
Communication with VP
Communication with any high-ranking individuals should be as straight to the point as possible. Vice President of Nursing is a person responsible for the overall management of all nursing services in a healthcare organization. As such, it is reasonable to suggest that VP would be involved in several projects simultaneously. The nursing hierarchy does not presuppose unlimited communication between key people in hospitals and lower-ranking nurses (Saleh et al., 2018). Subsequently, face-to-face meetings with VP would not be appropriate and effective.
Instead, the preferred communication format should be in-person and virtual meetings, as well as e-mail updates. Each Monday, a meeting with VP should be organized, which would bring them up to date with the progress of the project made over the course of the previous week. All important steps and hallmarks should be laid out in e-mails containing reports prepared by the Project Manager, which would keep VP informed without excessive time consumption. If the need arises for an unscheduled meeting, VP should be contacted and asked to schedule a corresponding meeting.
Communication with Director of Nursing
While presenting the project to the Director of Nursing, the matter of cost and benefit should be accentuated. As Director of Nursing supervises the department, they possess the most accurate information about the allocation of resources. As such, they should understand the benefits that can be harvested after the implementation of the project (Hee et al., 2019). Specifically, the emphasis should be put on the most attractive aspect of the project, which is reducing the workload of nurses.
Involving Director of Nursing in the monitoring of the project should be done in a way similar to VP, albeit with higher frequency. In person meetings should be held biweekly, on Tuesday and Saturday. The meetings should not be virtual as it might be necessary to make important points in the presence of nurses participating in the project. Naturally, Project Manager’s reports sent by e-mail will keep Director of Nursing informed. However, calls should also be employed as they allow obtaining immediate advice.
Communication with Nurse Manager
Nurse Managers are the middle ground between higher-ranking people and nurses. As much as middle managers in business, they are unique in their responsibility to balance between superiors and subordinates. Any Nurse Manager would be interested in a way to reduce the volume of work necessary to assign nurses to readmitted patients (Lalleman et al., 2017). As such, the benefit of time should be accentuated when presenting the project.
Face-to-face meetings and huddles before meetings with registered nurses are essential in communicating with nurse managers. Face-to-face meetings allow discussing issues pertaining to individual nurses participating in the project without alerting the entire team to them. Huddles are important because they allow project participants to brainstorm current issues in a non-formal setting. Nurse Manager should receive two reports by e-mail – one from Project Manager on the project’s progress and another from Director of Nursing with specific instructions to Nurse Manager.
Communication with Registered Nurses
Registered nurses are on the frontline of patient care, which implies that they are the direct beneficiaries of the project. The more postoperative patients are readmitted, the more nurses are psychologically pressured. Therefore, it is essential to accentuate the importance of teaching patients proper self-care for their own mental fortitude (Bray et al., 2017). Not only will nurses feel more satisfied with their job, but the project will also reduce their workload.
Communication with nurses should be done at least once a week. It should take the form of meetings with Nurse Manager and Project Manager, during which everyone would bring up-to-date with the project’s progress. Such meetings are also useful for issuing additional and individual instructions. Research indicates that nurses respond well to online messengers, particularly Viber and Facebook (Bautista & Lin, 2017). They can be used to inform nursing staff of impeding meetings, during which nurses would listen to reports by Project Manager and Nurse Manager.
Conclusion
Altogether, it should be evident that e-mails are the most effective means of communication because they allow project members to quickly acquaint themselves with the progress of the project without actually meeting. Virtual meetings with VP also allow communication, when they are away from the hospital. In all other cases, virtual meetings are inconvenient as immediate input is required. As such, in person meetings are the most preferred communicative format. Nurse Manager can be involved in face-to-face meetings, which would provide the opportunity to discuss nurses, while nurses themselves should be gathered for meetings, where reports will be read. In all instances, communication transpires at least once a week.
The primary communication technique used for presenting the project is placing emphasis on the benefits each of the project members will have from participating in the project. VP will be rewarded with improved statistics because fewer postoperative patients are readmitted. Director of Nursing and Nurse Manager will benefit from the reduction of workload, as postoperative patients will be educated on proper self-care. As such, the necessity to assign nurses to patients will become less urgent. Finally, nurses will benefit from greater job satisfaction because fewer patients are readmitted. Ultimately, emphasizing how the project will benefit all participants is the most effective way of maintaining their motivation.
References
Bautista, J. R., & Lin, T. T. (2017). Nurses’ use of mobile instant messaging applications: a uses and gratifications perspective. International Journal of Nursing Practice, 23(5), 1-9. Web.
Berry, N. J., Danchin, M., Trevena, L., Witteman, H. O., Kinnersley, P., Snelling, T., Robinson, P., & Leask, J. (2018). Sharing knowledge about immunization (SKAI): An exploration of parents’ communication needs to inform development of a clinical communication support intervention. Vaccine, 36(44), 6480–6490. Web.
Bray, M. S., Appel, A. L., Kallies, K. J., Borgert, A. J., Zinnel, B. A., & Shapiro, S. B. (2017). Implementation of an enhanced Recovery after Surgery program for colorectal surgery at a community teaching hospital. WMJ, 116(1), 22-26.
Hee, O. C., Qin, D. A. H., Kowang, T. O., Husin, M. M., & Ping, L. L. (2019). Exploring the impact of communication on employee performance. International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering, 8(3), 654-658. Web.
Lalleman, P. C. B., Smid, G. A. C., Dikken, J., Lagerwey, M. D., & Schuurmans, M. J. (2017). Nurse middle managers contributions to patient‐centred care: A ‘managerial work’analysis. Nursing Inquiry, 24(4), 59-75. Web.
Saleh, U., O’Connor, T., Al-Subhi, H., Alkattan, R., Al-Harbi, S., & Patton, D. (2018). The impact of nurse managers’ leadership styles on ward staff. British Journal of Nursing, 27(4), 197-203. Web.
Appendix A
Table 1A: Project Communication Plan.