Clinical Practice

Change Management Regarding Issues In Clinical Setting



Table of Contents

Introduction3

Outline Of The Problem3

Main Text3

Introduce The Proposed Change4

Conclusion11

Recommendations12

References14

Bibliography16

Change Management Regarding Issues In Clinical Setting

Introduction

Outline Of The Problem

Man is a social animal. Interacting with other people provides support, comfort, love and affection, which are needs we all have. The changing demographics of the world population mean that the world now has an increasing number of elderly individuals. But these basic needs do not diminish with age. Yet, as people grow older, they experience several changes in life, which interfere with developing social contact. Because of declining physical function, a lower income and a decreasing social network, elderly people may have little social contact. For people depending on care, a situation may develop in which the elderly person is mainly reliant on nurses who deliver nursing care. Care of the elderly is not a nursing discipline but crosses most disciplines in nursing and is becoming an increasingly important component of the nursing service.

Main Text

Communication with patients has been recognized as one of the most important aspects of nursing elderly people. Furthermore, communication is an essential aspect of the quality of care. From several studies it appears that poor communication is the largest source of dissatisfaction in patients (Macleod Clark 1985, Ley 1988, Davies & Fallowfield 1991). Consequently, the quality of care may improve with effective communication. It is generally observed that nurses with a favorable attitude towards elderly people, attach value to conversations with their older patients, while nurses with a less favorable attitude think that the delivery of physical, hygienic care finishes their job. It seems clear from several studies that the educational level of nurses is related most strongly to the way nurses communicate with their elderly patients. Patient characteristics such as age, gender and subjective state of health appear to play a minor role in the way nurses communicate.

Introduce The Proposed Change

The amount of training and job satisfaction are other characteristics that have been shown to have an influence on nurses' communication. Statistics prove that nurses used more facilitating than blocking communication, when they were satisfied with the general atmosphere on the ward or the nursing home. Especially the nurses with high levels of intrinsic job motivation and with the added advantage of satisfaction with colleagues seem to be more sensitive to elderly patients' needs than nurses with lower levels of these job satisfaction aspects. Davies (1992) found that although trained and untrained staff used broadly the same range of verbal strategies, trained staff used proportionately more of those strategies that promoted elderly patients' dignity, self-respect, choice and independence. Moreover, unqualified nurses were less sensitive to underlying meanings in verbal communication of elderly clients. It is quite natural nurses with a higher level of education use more patient-directed statements than nurses with a lower level of education. High level nurses for instance provide the patient with more information about sickness and health than lower level nurses and at the same time, they comfort and encourage the ...