title: An intervention to improve nurse-physician communication in depression care.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Depression in older adult home care recipients is frequently undetected and inadequately treated. Failed communication between home healthcare personnel and the patient's physician has been identified as a barrier for depression care. The purpose of this pilot intervention study was to improve nurse competency for communicating depression-related information to the physician.
  
  
  METHODS
  A single group pre-post experimental design.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two Medicare-certified home healthcare agencies serving an urban and suburban area in New York.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-eight home care nurses, all female Registered Nurses.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two-hour skills training workshop.
  
  
  METHODS
  To evaluate the intervention, pre-post changes in effective nurse communication using Objective Structured Clinical Examinations and nurse survey reports.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The intervention significantly improved the ability of the home care nurse to perform a case presentation in a complete and standard organized format pre versus postintervention. The intervention also increased nurse-reported certainty to communicate depression-related information to the physician.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings provide support for the ability of a brief, depression-focused communication skills training intervention to improve home care nurse competency for effectively communicating depression-related information to the physician.
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USA. ebrown@fiu.edu
authors.forename: Ellen L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Patrick J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Raue
authors.forename: Sibel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Klimstra
authors.forename: Amy E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Mlodzianowski
authors.forename: Rebecca L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Greenberg
authors.forename: Martha L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Bruce
mesh_terms: D003863:Depression / Q000451:nursing / Q000628:therapy*; D006699:Home Care Services; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D009726:Nurses; D009729:Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D010820:Physicians; D010865:Pilot Projects