White Paper: Enabling Effective Nurse Communications

Healthcare providers today face increasing pressure from many directions. They must improve patient care, despite persistent nursing staff shortages, and adopt new technologies in an ever-evolving environment. No single answer can address these issues, but there are some simple steps that can be taken to start the process. This paper demonstrates one of the avenues hospitals may take to solve some of these challenges through improving nurse communications.

At approximately 30 percent of the total hospital staff, nurses represent the largest constituent employee population in any hospital. They are the primary caregivers and are the common thread connecting patients to everything that touches them during their hospital stay. Coordinating patient care is a vital role of the nursing staff. In order for nurses to be most effective, it is critical that they have access to communications technologies that deliver the right message to the right person at the right time. Effective communication helps avoid costly errors, saves time and allows nurses to deliver the quality care that patients deserve.

Unfortunately, older processes and technologies often make it difficult for nurses to be as effective as possible. Inefficient communications systems centered on the nurses station are time-consuming. Often, they remove nurses from the patient care role, requiring them to be as much project manager as caregiver. Because of these limitations, nurses understand the importance of clear, concise communications and are often the first to recognize and embrace technologies that improve the flow of information throughout the hospital.