Nursing Practice Today (Jul 2018)
Barriers of nurse-patient communication from the nurses' point of view in educational hospitals affiliated to Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences
Abstract
Background & Aim: Communication with the patient is the basis for nursing practice in providing care for the patient. The aim of this study was to determine the barriers to nurse-patient communication from the viewpoint of nurses working in educational hospitals of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 151 of nursing staff in educational hospitals of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences selected by convenience sampling method. Data gathering tool was a questionnaire including demographic characteristics and “barriers to nurse-patient communication” questionnaire with four-part: common barriers between nurses and patients, nurses’ barriers, patients’ barriers and environmental barriers. The data were analyzed by SPSS software ver 16. The demographic data and the barriers to nurse-patient communication were measured, using frequency, mean, and standard deviation. Results: Cultural difference between nurses and patients (2.62±1.06) was the most common barriers to the nurse-patient communication. The most important barriers related to the patient included the patient's companion’s interference (3.24±0.92). Among the environmental barriers, caring for a critical patient (3.27±0.98) was the most important barriers. The most important nurses’ barriers was lack of time (3.46±0.78). Conclusions: Nurses and nursing managers should work to address and remove the barriers identified in relation to the nurse-patient communication. Providing care by native and same gender nurses, absence of patients' companion, creating a quiet environment and increasing the number of nursing staff could help to overcome these barriers
