Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Dec;12(1):1267346.
doi: 10.1080/17482631.2016.1267346.

ICU nurses and physicians dialogue regarding patients clinical status and care options-a focus group study

Monica Kvande  1 , Else Lykkeslet  2 , Sissel Lisa Storli  1
Affiliations

ICU nurses and physicians dialogue regarding patients clinical status and care options-a focus group study

Monica Kvande et al. Int J Qual Stud Health Well-being. 2017 Dec.

Abstract

Nurses and physicians work side-by-side in the intensive care unit (ICU). Effective exchanges of patient information are essential to safe patient care in the ICU. Nurses often rate nurse-physician communication lower than physicians and report that it is difficult to speak up, that disagreements are not resolved and that their input is not well received. Therefore, this study explored nurses' dialogue with physicians regarding patients' clinical status and the prerequisites for effective and accurate exchanges of information. We adopted a qualitative approach, conducting three focus group discussions with five to six nurses and physicians each (14 total). Two themes emerged. The first theme highlighted nurses' contributions to dialogues with physicians; nurses' ongoing observations of patients were essential to patient care discussions. The second theme addressed the prerequisites of accurate and effective dialogue regarding care options, comprising three subthemes: nurses' ability to speak up and present clinical changes, establishment of shared goal and clinical understanding, and open dialogue and willingness to listen to each other. Nurses should understand their essential role in conducting ongoing observations of patients and their right to be included in care-related decision-making processes. Physicians should be willing to listen to and include nurses' clinical observations and concerns.

Keywords: Focus group; ICU; intensive care nurse; physician: exchange of patient information.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Alexanian J. A., Kitto S., Rak K. J., Reeves S. Beyond the team: Understanding interprofessional work in two North American ICUs. Critical Care Medicine. 2015;43(9):1880–8. doi: 10.1097/CCM.0000000000001136. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Al-Qadheeb N. S., Hoffmeister J., Roberts R., Shanahan K., Garpestad E., Devlin J. W. Perceptions of nurses and physicians of their communication at night about intensive care patients’ pain, agitation, and delirium. American Journal of Critical Care. 2013;22(5):e49–e61. doi: 10.4037/ajcc2013565. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Benner P., Hooper-Kyriakidis P., Stannard D. Clinical wisdom and interventions in acute and critical care: A thinking-in-action approach. New York, NY: Springer; 2011.
    1. Collins S. A., Bakken S., Vawdrey D. K., Coiera E., Currie L. Model development for EHR interdisciplinary information exchange of ICU common goals. International Journal of Medical Informatics. 2011;80(8):e141–e149. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2010.09.009. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dietz A. S., Pronovost P. J., Mendez-Tellez P. A., Wyskiel R., Marsteller J. A., Thompson D. A., Rosen M. A. A systematic review of teamwork in the intensive care unit: What do we know about teamwork, team tasks, and improvement strategies? Journal of Critical Care. 2014;29(6):908–914. doi: 10.1016/j.jcrc.2014.05.025. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources