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Dr. Renz is Associate Director, Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program, and Advanced Senior Lecturer, School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Dr. Carrington is Assistant Professor, and Dr. Renz is also PhD Student, College of Nursing, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.
The authors have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise. Dr. Renz thanks the University of Arizona Fellows Program for support of her doctoral education.
The nursing home remains an important part of the health care continuum, providing housing and health care services to more than 1.5 million older adults in the United States ( Harris-Kojetin, Sengupta, Park-Lee, & Valverde, 2013 ). As the population continues aging at an unprecedented rate, current nursing home residents demonstrate higher acuity and care needs and more comorbid conditions ( Buchanan et al., 2006 ). This increased clinical complexity of the nursing home resident requires nursing staff, RNs, and licensed practical nurses to be proficient in detecting clinical changes and possess the competence to communicate observed changes to clinicians (physicians and nurse practitioners (NPs)). Nurse-physician communication , a method used for collaboration, has been described as a complex process that requires intentional knowledge sharing and joint responsibility for patient care ( Lindeke & Sieckert, 2005 ). Clinical decision making in the nursing home setting relies on sound communication between nurses and clinicians, as nurses play a key role as clinicians and providers of care due to the absence of consistent onsite medical providers ( Kuo, Raji, & Goodwin, 2013 ). Sound communication is an essential component to making decisions about health care, including those to treat conditions or hospitalize, because in the long-term care setting, nurse-physician communication often occurs via brief phone conversations ( Field et al., 2011 ).
Communication has been defined as the art and technique of using words effectively to impart information or ideas. Interpersonal communication , the type typically used between nurses and physicians and/or nurses and patients, usually contains a content and relationship component to effectively transmit the intended message (or signal) to the receiver. The content component is the literal subject matter of the communication, whereas the relationship component is information about the interpersonal relationship between the individuals ( Burgoon & Hale, 1984 ; Gilbert & Hayes,...