Communication within the health care team: doctors and nurses

Proper communication within the health care team is especially important in terms of creating safe emotional and professional conditions for the team members and for quality healing. The aim of the study is to explore the factors that hinder appropriate communication between doctors and nurses and thus to make the effective elimination of the communication disturbances possible. Investigation in main medical databases and general search engines were used for analysing the phenomenon. It was revealed that communication between doctors and nurses is restrained by factors that can be observed on individual, professional and system levels as well. Role confusion, lack of trust, communication barriers arising from hierarchical inequalities, leadership problems, differences in qualifications, burnout and organizational problems can equally be found amongst them. The effectiveness of communication between nurses and doctors in Hungary is especially strongly influenced by the fear of losing jobs, the financial problems arising from different degree of gratuity and the phenomenon of burnout. Changes on individual, professional and system levels are equally important for significant improvement in the communication between doctors and nurses. Joint trainings based on strong organizational development skills and joint conferences could promote significantly better flow of information, mutual appreciation and harmonization.