Solutions

Solutions powered by SVG logo for hStream platform.
Frame 586 (1)

Quality Manager formerly known as abaqis®

Mitigate risk and elevate your quality of care. Improving both clinical and business outcomes starts with a smarter, more integrated approach to regulatory training, continuing education and quality management.

Learn More

NEW TO THE STORE

hStream Content Marketplace

Connecting you to the Best Content. Access to 75 Partners and 35,000+ Courses in our Industry-Leading Marketplace. Streamline content purchasing, updates, hosting, and connectivity for your organizational needs

NurseGrid Learn

Online store for Clinical Learners. Individual CE Credit and industry products for Clinical Learners are now available through NurseGrid Learn (Beta). Explore our robust collection of courses that provides an unparalleled level of flexibility and choice.

Practitioner Courses

Meet the DEA's new requirement under the Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act in an online, high-quality and self-paced 8-hour DEA MATE Act course specifically designed for practitioners, including Physicians, PAs, NPs, Pharmacists, Dentists and others.

LATEST & POPULAR

BLOG

CredentialStream named the top credentialing software by G2
REPORT

2024 Annual Report on Medical Staff Credentialing
On-Demand Webinar

State of the Industry: What’s Next for Healthcare Quality & Safety in 2024?
BLOG

Summer 2024's Top Choice in Healthcare Credentialing: CredentialStream
BLOG

HealthStream Executive Briefing: CMS Minimum Staffing Standards: What You Need to Know
Webinar

Clinical Placement for the Future of Healthcare: myClinicalExchange Discussion with CommonSpirit Mt Region and UW Health

< HealthStream Resources

blog

01761262_tm_1149512250

3 Ways Nurse Management Can Improve Communication

April 1st, 2021
April 1st, 2021

Nurses have little control of how much information is coming at them, whether in terms of volume, frequency, or urgency. When nurses receive information, they’re expected to process the information, determine its importance, and potentially act on it. This can occur multiple times daily. Many sources detail how information exhaustion is prevalent in the healthcare environment. Compounding the problem is the proliferation of alarms of all types in healthcare. Nurse.org warns that “Unfortunately, due to the high number of false alarms, alarms that are meant to alert clinicians of problems with patients are sometimes being ignored. Assuming that an alarm is false puts patients in harm’s way and could lead to medical mistakes” (Gaines, 2019).

Organizational communication makes its own contribution to the informational overload in healthcare. NurseGrid, a HealthStream partner committed to transforming healthcare for the better, recently posted Information Overload in the Nurse World & How to Fix It.” Here are some ways they shared for healthcare management to lessen the potential for overwhelming staff with information.

  1. End the Practice of Sending Voluminous Emails.

    Healthcare management likes to send lengthy missives by email, full of details and difficult to digest. There’s no reason one email needs to include a slew of updates, policy changes, reminders, kudos, tsk-tsks, and hospital-wide announcements. When everything is emphasized, nothing is emphasized, and the actual important information won’t be retained.

    Instead, limit emails to 3 important takeaways and provide them in bullet point format. Stick to the issues that require immediate knowledge. If there is other information that needs to be shared, save it for the monthly staff meeting.

  2. Stop Using Flyers to Communicate Important Information.

    In many healthcare organizations, the walls are covered in flyers. Sometimes they are even hung inside staff bathrooms. Those few moments of silence are seen as golden opportunities by management to communicate out just one more “urgent” issue. But the only thing that feels urgent at that moment has nothing to do with what’s written on the flyer.

    Instead, limit all flyers to a bulletin board, and don’t expect any of that information to be retained. More importantly, if something is truly, vitally important, don’t put it on a flyer! This is a good opportunity to create a stricter definition of what constitutes as “urgent and important” information.

  3. Avoid Using Phone Calls & Texts to Get Staff to Work Extra Shifts.

    No one appreciates it when their phone blows up on their days off with pleas from a boss to work extra. Response rates are poor because the recipient knows who is calling and texting and can ignore it. If you text to communicate with your staff while they are not at work, you’re failing to communicate properly and adding to the oppressive noise at the worst possible time.

    Instead, employ modern communication solutions designed specifically for healthcare. Avoid invading employees’ home time. Invest in solutions that will improve your response rates while simultaneously boosting staff satisfaction.

The communication problem in healthcare emphasizes how nurse managers have to be more intentional in their efforts to communicate with their employees. Caring for patients is too important to waste their time with unimportant information. Likewise, more controlled and purposeful methods to communicate can help staff absorb more information with half the annoyance.


References

Gaines, K., “Alarm Fatigue is Way Too Real (and Scary) For Nurses,” nurse.org, August 19, 2019, Retrieved at https://nurse.org/articles/alarm-fatigue-statistics-patient-safety/.

 

Learn more about NurseGrid.

Request Demo