Effective Communication in the Care of the Surgical Patient

University of Derby Online Learning
UDOL-OLUBB: Bachelor of Science (Honours) in
Perioperative Practice
6NU547: Care of the Surgical Patient
Module Lead: {Insert name}
{Student name}
{Submission date}
Student Identification Number: {Student number}
Word Count: 3500
Declaration:
I declare that this assignment is my own work and that I have correctly acknowledged the work of
others. This assignment is in accordance with University guidance on good academic conduct and in
line with the PLATO advice. https://plato.derby.ac.uk/start/index.html
Student ID {Student number} 1

Content
Title Page
Introduction 3
Reflective narrative 4
Role and advantage of
effective communication in
the care of the surgical
patient
4-5
Issues and challenges in
the care of the surgical
patient and identification of
solutions to the issue
5-10
Conclusion 10-11
Reference list 12-14
Student ID {Student number} 2

Introduction/Background
This assignment will focus on the process used for effective communication to promote
recovery in surgical patient. As a surgical nurse in acute care clinics, I have encountered many types
of surgical patients with different types of health complexities. Along with the type of surgery, the
challenges in pre-surgery and post-surgery phase also increase because of the presence of many
other co-morbidities or other health condition in patient. Co-morbidities have a significant impact on
surgical outcomes of patients. Surgical outcomes are also influenced by many other factors such as
types of operation, quality of care, patient characteristics and presence of other concurrent disease
(Inokuchi et al. 2014). Identification of risk factors for complications in the pre and post-operative
complication is an important approach to reduce complications in patients (Hollis et al. 2016). We
follow series of pre-operative assessment and post-operative assessment activities to find out any
risk associated with patients past medical history and current health status. However, based on my
experience of caring for surgical patient in a busy hospital setting where wide range or surgeries are
performed, I can say that effective communication with surgical patient and the multi-professional
team is an important pathway for a safer surgical journey.
As a surgical nurse, I have worked in busy hospital settings where both general and
specialized surgeries are performed. I have met and interacted with surgical patients on a daily basis
to conduct routine assessment before and after surgery. Apart from the clinical aspects of care, I was
not aware that communication can promote safety practice and positive health outcome for patients
in such a significant way until I experienced an event of communication breakdown with surgical
patients. I started paying attention to the communication aspects of care after I experienced many
challenges in providing care because of communication related errors. There were many situations
where complications for patients could have been avoided had I taken the approach to effectively
communicate with patients regarding necessary preparations before surgeries and the things they
should avoid before surgery as per their clinical condition. After critically reflecting on discussion
post related to effective communication during the peri-operative phase, I learnt about the
communication methods while providing care to the surgical patient. Reflection on the learning
material and activities completed throughout the unit will help in providing a critically reflective
portfolio of evidence regarding synthesis of theory-practice interface in relation to effective
communication for the care of the surgical patient.
The main purpose of the reflective portfolio is to reflect on the importance of effective
communication to prevent complications and promote safety in surgical patient, to evaluate
contemporary issues and challenges related to engaging in effective communication with the
Student ID {Student number} 3

surgical staff and patient. The assignment has been approached by first discussing on the role of
effective communication in surgical care along with support from research evidences. The next step
would focus on critical appraisal of own role in relation to the care of the surgical patient and critical
reflection of personal discussion postings related to the effective communication and use of WHO
surgical safety checklist in practice. It also demonstrated how the theory-practice gap is minimized
by learning from incidents and implementing lessons from the discussion posting to minimise the
likelihood of adverse events in the future.
Reflective narrative
Role and advantage of effective communication in the care of the surgical patient:
Majority of errors in the peri-operative setting occurs due to communication failures (Seifert,
Graling and Sanchez 2017). The likelihood of communication breakdown is high because of the fast
paced nature of the peri-operative environment. Nurses who enter newly into surgical practice lack
the skills to handle the fast paced nature of the surgical environment and they fail to share and
communicate vital patient information to other medical staffs. Lack of skills in effective
communication leads to patient safety issues and affects morale, self-esteem and engagement of
health care workers. Hence, it can be said that poor communication has impact both on patient and
staffs. Cvetic (2011) explains that improving communication between peri-operative team and
patients can improve the likelihood of providing competent, efficient and safe surgical care to
patient. It also minimizes burden during surgical practice by decreasing uncertainty regarding
surgical procedures, promoting harmony during team work and facilitating cost savings. Due to
these benefits, staffs entering into surgical setting are expected to have effective interpersonal
communication skills.
While preparing for my surgical nursing course, my educator also gave brief idea regarding
communication process during peri-operative care. My professional nursing course built theoretical
knowledge on the topic. However, I experienced theory-practice gap when I started practicing in real
setting. Communicating with patients as well as other care providers became a challenging task for
me as I failed to keep up with the demands of other tasks. Communication aspect was ignored by me
at this time. However, after facing the aftermath of communication breakdown, I realized that
education related to safe communication measure was essential for me. After receiving proper
mentoring in communication aspect of surgical care, I realized that implementation of safe
communication protocols and checklist provide great support to nurses in reporting about patient’s
Student ID {Student number} 4