Open AccessUnderstanding Communication Between Rehabilitation Practitioners and Nurses: Implications for Post-Acute Care Quality
Author(s) -
Carin Wong,
Jenny Martínez,
Brenda Fagan,
Natalie E. Leland
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of applied gerontology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.857
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 1552-4523
pISSN - 0733-4648
DOI - 10.1177/0733464818794148
Subject(s) - rehabilitation , nursing , certification , qualitative research , focus group , medicine , quality (philosophy) , psychology , physical therapy , sociology , social science , philosophy , epistemology , political science , anthropology , law
Objective: This study examined post-acute care (PAC) rehabilitation practitioner's perspectives on communication. Method: This is a secondary data analysis of a larger qualitative study, which included PAC rehabilitation provider ( n = 99) focus groups that were held in a purposive sample of 13 skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). Results: Participants emphasized the importance of bidirectional communication between rehabilitation and nursing. Three themes were identified: (a) communication between rehabilitation practitioners and registered nurses or licensed practical nurses, (b) communication between rehabilitation practitioners and certified nursing assistants, and (c) communication between rehabilitation practitioners and nursing leaders. Two subthemes within each of the three themes were further characterized to understand how information was exchanged: (a) static communication and (b) action-oriented communication. Conclusion: Our findings highlight opportunities for better communication in PAC between rehabilitation practitioners and nursing and thus lay a foundation for future efforts to improve care coordination through enhancing interdisciplinary communication.