Miscommunication Among Healthcare Professionals In The Hospital Setting: A Quality Improvement Project

Research has identified that 81% of interruptions during handoff were from the nurse receiving handoff(Rhudy, L., Johnson, M., Krecke, C., Keigley, D., Schnell, S., Maxson, P., McGill, S., & Warfield, K., 2019). Miscommunication in the healthcare field is a considerably large issue. It often times goes unmentioned, which can negatively impact patient’s care. A thorough literature review was conducted and a total of 64 studies were reviewed. Common themes that emerged included language barriers and cultural differences can often be associated with miscommunication in the healthcare setting. With miscommunication and the errors that result from it, trainings and policies have been made in order to reduce the incidence from happening. These include things like teamwork enhancement and communication trainings As a result of this literature review a guideline handout was created to illustrate the SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendations) technique for handoff in order to improve how healthcare providers will communicate information about the patients. This guideline will be shared with clinical faculty. The expected results will show an improvement in the communication among healthcare professionals, which will also improve patient outcomes. Miscommunication must be addressed by every and all members within a healthcare setting in order to try and eliminate errors