A qualitative assessment of perceived barriers to effective therapeutic communication among nurses and patients

Background: Therapeutic communication is essential in the provision of quality healthcare to patients. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceived barriers to effective therapeutic communication among patients and nurses at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi. Methods: An exploratory study design was employed using a qualitative approach. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 13 nurses and patients who were interviewed using an unstructured interview guide. Interviews were audio-taped, transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic content analysis. Results: Patient-related characteristics that were identified as barriers to effective therapeutic communication included socio-demographic characteristics, patient-nurse relationship, language, misconception, as well as pain. Nurse-related characteristics such as lack of knowledge, all-knowing attitude, work overload and dissatisfaction were also identified as barriers to effective therapeutic and environmental-related issues such as noisy environment, new to the hospital environment as well as unconducive environment were identified as barriers to effective therapeutic communication among patients and nurses at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi. Conclusion: Nurse-patient communication is an inseparable part of the patients' care in every health setting; it is one of the factors that determine the quality of care. Several patient-related characteristics, nurse-related characteristics and environmental-related issues pose as barriers to effective therapeutic communication at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi and have ultimately; resulted in reducing effective communication at the wards. Therefore, all the barriers must be eradicated to promote effective therapeutic communication.