Nurse-patient communication at the emergency department of a regional referral Hospital in Ghana: perspectives of patients and relatives

Nursing care at the emergency department (ED) is an important aspect of health care. Patients and their relatives describe quality nursing care in terms of good communication with nurses, comfort, physical environment, interpersonal care, competency, efficiency, personalized information, and general instructions. This study assessed nurse-patient and relatives’ communication at the ED of the Greater Accra Regional Hospital. A descriptive cross-sectional design was used, and a convenience sampling technique was used to select 158 patients and relatives to represent the study population. Data was collected with a structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 23.0. The association between nurses’ attitudes and the socio-demographic characteristics of patients and relatives was assessed using the Chi-square test at an alpha level of p < 0.05. Nurse-patient and family communication was relatively satisfactory. Responses from patients and relatives showed high mean scores on the positive attributes of nurses’ communication, such as providing appropriate and detailed explanations of illness and treatment in a way that is simple to understand, as well as low mean scores on negative attributes, such as inattention to patient or relatives’ requests and presentations of conflicting information by the clinical team. Nurses also had high mean scores on all variables measuring good attitude and low mean scores on bad attitude. Despite this, 61.4% of participants graded the attitude of nurses as poor. No association was found between the socio-demographic characteristics of patients and relatives and nurses’ communication. General suggestions for improvement in nurse and patient and relative communication centered on increased remuneration, development of monitoring systems, and provision of clear communication and reporting lines. In conclusion, nurses’ communication with patients and relatives is good but can be improved through improvement in attitude.