Patient Status Communication

Guidelines:

• The perioperative nurse communicates current patient status to interdisciplinary team
  • Facilitates interdisciplinary team care coordination
  • Follow policy and regulatory guidelines
  • Utilize standardized communication tools

Considerations:

• Communication and teamwork is a perioperative nursing safety issue
• Hand-off/Handover protocols improve communication in the perioperative setting
• Checklists enhance meaningful communication and teamwork
• With teamwork, trust, and respect, outcomes improve

Nurse’s role:

• Utilize communication tools to facilitate meaningful communication of patient status
• Communicate and collaborate with the interdisciplinary team on the patient’s plan of care
• Follow policy and regulatory guidelines
• Maintain patient safety and privacy

Pitfalls:

• Failure to communicate patient status and information can result in adverse events
• Ineffective communication can result in adverse events
• There is no one prescribed communication script
• Follow healthcare organization’s policy and procedure for communication tools and documentation of communication

Examples:

• SBAR
• IPASS
• PEARLS

Linchpins (Key Points):

• Use standardized communication tools
• Communication and teamwork = Patient safety
• Follow healthcare organization policy
• Communicate patient status effectively with the interdisciplinary team