Communication Tips - Other Members of the Healthcare Team

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Kati Kleber, MSN RN – Nurse educator, former cardiac med-surg/stepdown and neurocritical care nurse, author, and speaker.

Know the culture of your hospital
- It’s different everywhere; this takes time, give yourself some grace
Learn what kind of info each person wants – their version of “report”
- PT/OT
- ST
- CM
- SW
- Chaplain
- MD / APP
Talking point if you don’t know: “I’m new here and still learning the ropes. Can you tell me what information exactly you’re looking for from me?”

Be humbly confident, direct but kind
Don’t call patient’s room numbers
- use their names, as these individuals often see the patient throughout their entire stay in various rooms
Don’t expect others to do your job
- Not cool: Calling OT and saying, “Bed 14’s food tray is here for you to feed him breakfast”
- Cool: Calling OT and letting them know, “Just wanted to let you know that 14’s tray arrived. Before I bring it in to him, I wanted to see if you’ll be seeing him today and it would be helpful to wait so you could work with him at the beginning when he’s got the most energy” – or something similar to that
If you’re confused on their request/needs, reflect – “Ok, so let me make sure I’m understanding you. You’d like me to ________. Is that correct?”
If you don’t agree, reflect and justify concerns
- “Ok so I hear that you really want to get him discharged right now. I’m concerned that we’re going to just see him back again in less than a month. He does not have anyone at home to help him, no one to pick him up, etc…
Know your chain of command if something not-awesome happens
Be grateful