Week 2 Discussion: Communication and Influence-the Power of Evidence
This week's graded topic relates to the following Course Outcome (CO).
CO3: Demonstrates effective communication with patients, colleagues, and other healthcare
providers in managing safe/quality healthcare processes using evidence-based practices. (PO#3)
Please address the following:
• Describe caring attributes of the culture where you currently practice. Which attributes
stand out as having significant influence on patients, nurses, and other healthcare
professionals?
• How do you see effective communication relating to patient outcomes in this setting?
What is the evidence for this?
Caring attributes in our hospital culture that stand out are those that we demonstrate to our
patients but also those we demonstrate to each other. As a Magnet community hospital, we have
several certified beds that puts us in the medium category for hospital size however we feel
small. One of the reasons we feel small is the “journey to excellence” we embarked upon several
years ago. This was a huge undertaking because it essentially worked on changing our culture to
a culture of excellence that expected staff to demonstrate the following behaviors:
Accountability, Service commitment, Teamwork, Respect, and Attitude. Along with these
behaviors were communication components that were non-negotiable and staff were held
accountable for them. Part of the communication component were the following that had a
tremendous impact on the organization:10-foot, 5-foot rule. This rule means that when you
encounter someone ten feet away you must make eye contact and at 5 feet you must smile and
say hello or some other friendly acknowledgement. This seems small, but you can walk around
our hospital any time of day or night and feel like you know everyone. Another communication
strategy that we implemented was never allowing a visitor to the hospital be lost or not know
where they are going and when we offer to help, we must walk them to the area they are visiting.
Both of these attributes demonstrate caring to our community and to each other. A compassionate
and caring approach to each other is our “cozy cart”. It is supplied with donations that come from
the nurses, of treats and herbal teas and it is rolled out to units in the evening or night time by
nurse volunteers, so we can let our nurses on shift know we care about them providing them with
a treat to help them get through the shift. This small gesture of caring from nurses to nurses has a
tremendous impact.
A communication strategy that I believe has great influence on colleagues, patients, families and
other healthcare providers is our “words that work” communication tool used in combination
This week's graded topic relates to the following Course Outcome (CO).
CO3: Demonstrates effective communication with patients, colleagues, and other healthcare
providers in managing safe/quality healthcare processes using evidence-based practices. (PO#3)
Please address the following:
• Describe caring attributes of the culture where you currently practice. Which attributes
stand out as having significant influence on patients, nurses, and other healthcare
professionals?
• How do you see effective communication relating to patient outcomes in this setting?
What is the evidence for this?
Caring attributes in our hospital culture that stand out are those that we demonstrate to our
patients but also those we demonstrate to each other. As a Magnet community hospital, we have
several certified beds that puts us in the medium category for hospital size however we feel
small. One of the reasons we feel small is the “journey to excellence” we embarked upon several
years ago. This was a huge undertaking because it essentially worked on changing our culture to
a culture of excellence that expected staff to demonstrate the following behaviors:
Accountability, Service commitment, Teamwork, Respect, and Attitude. Along with these
behaviors were communication components that were non-negotiable and staff were held
accountable for them. Part of the communication component were the following that had a
tremendous impact on the organization:10-foot, 5-foot rule. This rule means that when you
encounter someone ten feet away you must make eye contact and at 5 feet you must smile and
say hello or some other friendly acknowledgement. This seems small, but you can walk around
our hospital any time of day or night and feel like you know everyone. Another communication
strategy that we implemented was never allowing a visitor to the hospital be lost or not know
where they are going and when we offer to help, we must walk them to the area they are visiting.
Both of these attributes demonstrate caring to our community and to each other. A compassionate
and caring approach to each other is our “cozy cart”. It is supplied with donations that come from
the nurses, of treats and herbal teas and it is rolled out to units in the evening or night time by
nurse volunteers, so we can let our nurses on shift know we care about them providing them with
a treat to help them get through the shift. This small gesture of caring from nurses to nurses has a
tremendous impact.
A communication strategy that I believe has great influence on colleagues, patients, families and
other healthcare providers is our “words that work” communication tool used in combination
