ASSOCIATION OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION BARRIERS WITH SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF NURSES WORKING AT A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL IN KARACHI.

JPUMHS;2024:14:01,40-44. http://doi.org/10.46536/jpumhs/2024/14.01.492

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Good communication between healthcare professionals and the patients can positively lead to
a successful treatment. Moreover, the quality of nursing care is highly needed for the well-being of patients, which
can only be achieved if the patients are satisfied with the nurses’ interaction and care provided. OBEJCTIVE: To
determine the association of demographic characteristics with effective communication barriers among nurses
working at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi. METHODS: This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted
through adopting purposive sampling among nurses working at Dr. Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi from 1st
September 2019 to 31st December 2019. An ethical approval was obtained, and a written informed consent was
obtained from each participant of the study. The data were collected by using demographic information sheet and
a Likert-scale tool including 44 questions related to barriers of effective communication among nurses. The SPSS
Version-23 was used for data analysis. Frequency and percentages were used for demographic variables.
Furthermore, a Mann-Whitney and Friedman tests were used to check the association between demographic
characteristics and barriers of effective communication. RESULTS: A total of 213 samples of nurses were
included in this study with a mean+SD of age was 30.49±8.65. Moreover, 69.0% of the participants were male
and 57.3% were married, 58.6% holding Diploma education, 34.7% were found with professional experience
between 3-5 years, 55.3% had regular job and 69% had rotations in nature of duty. The study results showed that
there were no significant mean differences found in number of barriers with respect to gender, nature of job and
nature of duty. However, a significant association was observed with respect to marital status p=0.01, education
p=0.01, and professional experience p=0.001 of the study participants. CONCLUSION: The findings of this
study suggest that marital status, education level and professional experience play a significant role in shaping
communication barriers. Strategies and interventions designed to meet the particular needs of nurses based on
their demographic characteristics can be developed to mitigate these barriers and enhance communication skills
in nursing practice.