Improving Nurse-Physician Communication

Objectives of the Project

The practicum project will achieve three objectives:

1. Determine the perceptions of nurses and physicians about the current barriers to communication.
2. Evaluate feedback from both nurses and physicians to improve communication between them.
3. Propose effective solutions for nurses and physicians to improve communication skills and improve collaboration in providing patient care

Selected Methodology

The project will use a survey and interviews of a sample of 25 nurses and 25 physicians. The interviews are critical to achieving the first objective of understanding the current barriers to communication from the perspective of the nurses and physicians (Robinson, Gorman, Slimmer, & Yudkowsky, 2010). The survey will be conducted to analyze the effectiveness of communication between nurses and physicians. The two methods are critical because the research seeks to understand the narratives of the participants and collect objective numerical data to propose a practical solution to the communication problem and improve patient care. The data from the methodology will inform necessary changes in the healthcare system to eradicate the current barriers and improve nurse to physician communication.

Evaluation Plan

Formative evaluation will be conducted throughout the research process, while a summative assessment will be done at the end of the project to inform the necessary changes. The first formative evaluation will be conducted after the interviews to establish the current barriers to communication between nurses and physicians (Black, 2010). Another formative evaluation will be performed after the survey to determine the effectiveness of communication. Notably, the summative assessment will be done using data from the interviews and surveys to propose an effective solution to the identified communication problems in the healthcare setting (Joffe et al., 2013). Therefore, the overall objective is to suggest a significant change that will improve communication skills among the participants to enhance patient care.