Grant Presentation: (1.0 CNE Credit) Communication and Collaboration Among Registered Nurses and Unlicensed Assistive Personnel: A Meeting of the Minds

Many adverse patient outcomes have been linked to communication and teamwork breakdowns. Since registered nurses (RNs) and unlicensed assistive personnel (UAPs) such as certified nursing assistants (CNAs), comprise a major direct patient care team, the quality of the RN-UAP relationship may impact the team’s ability to function effectively. As significant portions of patient care tasks to UAPs. Consequently, RNs may spend less meaningful time with patients, while UAPs may spend an increasing amount of time. Yet UAPs are rarely included in any meaningful patient care conversations. Using the motivation-oriented Conductorless Orchestra Model (2015) and the skills-oriented TeamSTEPPS model we will examine RN and UAP perceptions of communication and collaboration/teamwork and identify and mitigate barriers to performing effectively as a cohesive team.