CAUSES FOR INEFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN …

1 J of IMAB. 2017 Jul-Sep;23(3) articleCAUSES FOR INEFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONBETWEEN MEDICAL SPECIALISTSS tayko I. Spiridonov,Department of Health Policy and Management, Faculty of Public Health,Medical University - Sofia, of IMAB - Annual Proceeding (Scientific Papers). 2017 Jul-Sep;23(3):Journal of IMABISSN: 1312-773 : In the resent years the healthcare systemhas moved to inter-professional, cross-disciplinary, multi-person approach where the communications are very im-portant for ensuring patient safety. COMMUNICATION inhealth organisations needs to be studied and analyseddeeply and comprehensively because the future of an or-ganisation often depends on good COMMUNICATION .

2 Thepurpose of this study is to investigate and analyse the rea-sons for INEFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN medical spe-cialists in the teams they work and Methods: A questionnaire methodis used. Through a survey over a period of 12 months(from 01. 12. 2014 to 01. 12. 2015) at the Escullap Hos-pital in Pazardzhik, DCC 18 - Sofia, St. Mina Hospital inPlovdiv, MHAT Plovdiv, DCC 1 in Haskovo, UMHATin Stara Zagora, DCC 3 in Varna and MHAT Parvomay,was studied and analyzed the opinion of medical special-ists on the effectiveness of COMMUNICATION within theteam they work in. The survey includes 477 medical and conclusions: According to of therespondents, the COMMUNICATION in the team they workin is insufficiently effective.

3 Most of the respondents( ) find their colleagues responsible for the ineffec-tive COMMUNICATION , followed by those who seek the causefor poor COMMUNICATION in the management of the healthcare facility ( ). The leading cause of poor commu-nication in the team according to the study participantsis the inequality BETWEEN the characters of the colleagues( ). According to the majority of respondents( ), improvements in facilities and wage increases( ) would be essential to improve communicationwithin the team they work in. Recommendations havebeen formulated to improve COMMUNICATION among medi-cal : COMMUNICATION , medical specialists, ef-ficiency,INTRODUCTIONC ommunication in health organisations needs tobe studied and analysed deeply and comprehensively.

4 Thefuture of an organisation often depends on good commu-nication. It is necessary to study the many aspects of busi-ness COMMUNICATION : its objectives, strategies, the obsta-cles in COMMUNICATION , the ways to communicate more ef-fectively, the basic principles of business contacts, thetypes of COMMUNICATION and, last but not least, the formsof business COMMUNICATION (verbal, nonverbal , Epistolary,public speaking and telephone COMMUNICATION ) [1, 2].Zillich mentioned that recognition of these drivers mighthelp medical specialist developing collaborative workingrelationships [3]. The knowledge of all these aspects ofthe COMMUNICATION process in the business environmentenables anyone who wants to be a professional to reviewtheir behaviour and way of expression during communi-cation and to achieve the necessary COMMUNICATION the resent years the healthcare system has movedto inter-professional, cross-disciplinary, multi-person ap-proach where the communications are very important forensuring patient safety.

5 The COMMUNICATION inefficiencyis a prerequisite for worsening teamwork and extent thepossibilities of error in the health services delivering [4].With the health and safety of patients at stake, learningto communicate effectively and efficiently with all mem-bers of the patient-care team is critical [5].The purpose of this study is to investigate and ana-lyse the reasons for INEFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION betweenmedical specialists in the teams they work achieve this goal, we set out the following maintasks:1. To explore the opinion of medical specialists onthe effectiveness of COMMUNICATION within the team theywork To identify the most common CAUSES for ineffi-cient COMMUNICATION within the team according to To clarify the specific CAUSES for poor communi-cation within a To investigate the preferred measures to improveteam COMMUNICATION according to survey To formulate recommendations for improvingcommunication BETWEEN medical AND METHODSA questionnaire method is used to objectify the ob-served results.

6 The survey was conducted over a periodof 12 months (from to ) at theEscullap Hospital in Pazardzhik, DCC 18 - Sofia, St. MinaHospital in Plovdiv, MHAT Plovdiv, DCC 1 in Haskovo,UMHAT in Stara Zagora, DCC 3 in Varna and MHAT - of IMAB. 2017 Jul-Sep;23(3) survey includes 477 medical specialists, , nurses, midwives and paramedics working at thehealth facilities analyses were made with a statisticalsuite of application programs - SPSS For table andgraphic processing and presentation were used theMICROSOFT OFFICE AND DISCUSSIONOut of the survey participants, the largest share isin the age range BETWEEN forty-fifty years - a total of thirty-seven people or of all respondents.

7 The smallestgroup in our study is the group of health workers overthe age of sixty - (Figure 1).Fig. 1. Age structure of respondentsThe frequency of the respondents distribution inour survey according to their job description shows thatthe largest share is that of nurses and midwives - the share of doctors is almost as much - 45,1%. Thesurvey also includes managers ( ) and parsers ( ),but with relatively less surveyed the respondents opinion on the effec-tiveness of COMMUNICATION in the team they work in. Ac-cording to , COMMUNICATION is sufficiently effective(Figure 2).Fig. 2. Frequency of the respondents distributionon the effectiveness of COMMUNICATION in the team theywork inThe active and effective COMMUNICATION betweenall members is very important for providing efficienthealth services [5].

8 Stephen and McPhee sited that com-munication BETWEEN the medical specialists may be im-proved by suppling more clinical information and directcontact [6].In order to find out the reasons for the ineffectivecommunication in the team according to the survey par-ticipants, we asked the next question in the survey. (Fig-ure 3)Fig. 3. Most common reasons for inefficient COMMUNICATION in the team according to respondentsJ of IMAB. 2017 Jul-Sep;23(3) of the respondents ( ) find theircollegues responsible for the INEFFECTIVE second largest is the group of those who seek thecause for poor COMMUNICATION in the management of thehealth care facility (27,6%) they work also tried to investigate the specific CAUSES forpoor COMMUNICATION in a team.

9 There is a predominantview that the leading cause of poor COMMUNICATION in theteam is the inequality BETWEEN the characters of the col-leagues. This is the opinion of 41,9% of the second most important cause, according to medicalspecialists, is the poor pay, which in their opinion createsa prerequisite for strained relations in the team (Figure 4).Fig. 4. Most common CAUSES for poor communica-tion in the team of respondentsInvestigating the opinion of the participants in thesurvey, we found that, according to the majority of them( ), the improvement of the facilities will be essen-tial for improving the COMMUNICATION within the teamthey work in.

10 The second (27,3%) are those medical spe-cialists who believe that wage increase would also leadto better COMMUNICATION with their colleagues. A lot ofthe respondents ( ) attach importance to the role ofteam building activities to COMMUNICATION improving (Fig-ure 5).Fig. 5. Preferred measures for improving team com-munication according to survey on the analysis of respondents opinion onthe CAUSES for INEFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN medi-cal specialists in the teams they work in, the followingconclusions can be drawn:1. According to of the respondents, the com-munication in the team they work in is insufficiently Most respondents (39,8%) find their colleguesresponsible for the INEFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION , followedby those who seek the cause for poor COMMUNICATION inthe management of the health care facility (27,6%).