Promoting professional and interprofessional relationship among nurses in Iran: a participatory action research

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Healthcare Management
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Effective communication is fundamental to nursing care and impacts patient and community health.
• Optimizing professional and interprofessional nurse relationships is crucial for healthcare quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To optimize professional and interprofessional relationships among nurses.
• To evaluate the impact of optimized relationships on patient care and safety.

Main Methods:

• Participatory action research involving 288 patients and 23 staff in a Tehran hospital (2019-2020).
• Qualitative data from interviews analyzed via conventional content analysis.
• Quantitative data from communication skills checklist and questionnaires before and after intervention.

Main Results:

• Patient satisfaction increased from 41.57% to 94.34%.
• Patient and family training scores rose significantly.
• Hospital stay decreased from 5.52 to 3.57 days; nosocomial infections reduced from 32.1 to 17.4; readmissions dropped from 4.8 to 2.3.
• Improvements noted in nurse responsibility, accountability, care quality, and patient respect.

Conclusions:

• Optimizing nurse professional and interprofessional relationships enhances patient quality of care and safety.
• Positive impacts include increased patient satisfaction, reduced hospital stay, and decreased infections.
• Improved relationships contribute to greater patient respect and higher nurse job satisfaction.