Date of Award

Summer 2025

Project Type

Thesis

College or School

CHHS

Department

Nursing

Program or Major

Direct Entry Masters of Nursing

Degree Name

Master of Science

First Advisor

Elizabeth Evans

Abstract

Background: Efficient and high quality communication is paramount in the emergency department setting, especially between registered nurses (RNs) and emergency department technicians. In a fluid and high-octane microsystem, poor communication can lead to missed or delayed delegated tasks, which harm teamwork and patient safety and outcomes.

Purpose: By introducing a low-cost, paper-based communication alternative to this microsystem into the workflow it is expected that perceived ease of use and communication quality will both increase when surveying department staff. This intervention offers an alternative means of communicating with the goal of improving communication overall in the microsystem.

Methods: Through use of the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) model, pre- and post-intervention surveys were released via QR codes into the microsystem to gather baseline perceptions of communication quality and to judge potential impacts of the intervention. The pre-intervention survey was active for one week, and the post-intervention survey was active longer due to poor initial response rates.

Intervention: Paper slips that act as a communication alternative for delegated tasks between RNs and emergency department technicians were placed around the microsystem in the same locations as the surveys. The intervention was active in the microsystem for one week following the pre-intervention survey. The goal of this intervention was to have a 25% increase in perceived satisfaction with communication and a 25% increase in perceived usability.

Results: The pre-intervention survey had seven respondents with 86% stating current communication was only moderately effective, and all respondents acknowledged at least one delegated task being delayed or missed. The post-intervention survey had three respondents, all of which acknowledged the presence of the newly implemented paper-based communication alternative, only some of them used it, and changes in perceived satisfaction or ease of use were not statistically significant.

Conclusion: While the post-intervention survey results did not meet the anticipated 25% increase in perceived satisfaction and perceived usability, this quality improvement project successfully identified existing concerns within the microsystem regarding their communication. This project also stimulated the conversation between staff about their own communication practices and future steps to improve.

Download

Share

COinS