Improving Nurse/CNA Communication

[TheNightShift]

Hello all,

I'm hoping to get some feedback on what I'm guessing is a fairly common problem. I work on a large Med-Surg unit in an inner city hospital. By and large, our teamwork is good. However, we often have difficulty with communication between nurses and CNAs. Tasks are left undone, nurses percieve CNAs as dodging work, CNAs see nurses as dumping everything on them. Combined with a climate of decreased resources and staffing cuts, the underlying communication problems put increased strain on the team and puts patients at risk.

I'm involved with Shared Leadership on my unit and I'm in the midst of putting together a task force (made up of nurses and CNAs from all shifts) to work on improving our communication. As I get this project started, I'm looking for feedback. Is this something you have struggled with on your unit? What strategies have you used to improve matters? What things worked and what fell flat?

Thanks for your input!

[Sour Lemon]

Hello all,

I'm hoping to get some feedback on what I'm guessing is a fairly common problem. I work on a large Med-Surg unit in an inner city hospital. By and large, our teamwork is good. However, we often have difficulty with communication between nurses and CNAs. Tasks are left undone, nurses percieve CNAs as dodging work, CNAs see nurses as dumping everything on them. Combined with a climate of decreased resources and staffing cuts, the underlying communication problems put increased strain on the team and puts patients at risk.

I'm involved with Shared Leadership on my unit and I'm in the midst of putting together a task force (made up of nurses and CNAs from all shifts) to work on improving our communication. As I get this project started, I'm looking for feedback. Is this something you have struggled with on your unit? What strategies have you used to improve matters? What things worked and what fell flat?

Thanks for your input!

It works best when there's a VERY clear hierarchy.

When "teamwork" is stressed too much, each member of the team feels entitled to do things (or avoid doing things) as they see fit. CNAs should be working out issues directly with their supervising RNs. RNs should be working out issues directly with their charge nurses. Etc.