Nurse to patient comunication barriers perceived by nurses at Nekemte town governement hospitals, oromia, ethiopia, 2021

Abstract

Background: Nurse to patient communication is approaching every patient with the desire to understand the patient’s concerns, experience and feelings. The barriers could have different natures and sources with respect to nurses themselves, patients and environment. In Ethiopia, the research works conducted so far to explore the barriers and factors to affect the communication between nurse and patient is limited. Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess nurse - patient communication barriers perceived by nurses at government hospital in Nekemte town, East Wollega, Oromia, Ethiopia. Method: Institution based cross sectional survey was conducted among all 309 nurses working in Nekemte specialized and Wollega University referral hospitals from August 27-Septemeber 27, 2021. The tool was pretested before actual data collection on similar study population (at Sibu sire hospital) and modification was made on the tools based on the findings. The collected data was checked, coded and entered into Epi-data version 4.6 and exported to Statistical package for social science version 25 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression were done to identify factors associated with level of nurse to patient communication barriers; p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The result was presented with tables, figures and text. Result: Out of the total 309, the response rate of this study was 97%. Slightly more than half 161(53.67%) of the study participants practiced good level of communication. The findings of this study also revealed that educational status [p-value=.006, AOR:7.352, 95% CI (1.761-30.703)], [p-value=.006, AOR: 26.163, 95% CI (2.494-274.474)], gender difference with a patient[p- value=.032, AOR: 0.425, 95% CI (0.191-0.940)], lack of communication skill among nurses [p- value= 0.049, AOR: 0.523, 95% CI (.275- .997)], presence of contagious diseases [p-value=0.046, AOR: 1.782, 95% CI (1.009 - 3.148)], resistance or patient's unwilling to communicate [p- value=.017, AOR: 2.054, 95% CI (1.138 - 3.708)] and patient presence in unfamiliar environment[p-value=:0.012, AOR: 2.086, 95% CI (1.177- 3.697)] had statistically significant associations with level of nurse to patient communication. Conclusion and Recommendation: In this study, the level of nurse to patient communication was good. Factors related to nurses, patients and environment significantly affected the level of nurse to patient communication. Hospital authorities should undertake necessary measures needed to minimize the communication barriers among nurses.