Tehran University of Medical Sciences Nursing Practice Today 2383-1154 5 3 2018 07 13 326 334 EN Farasat Ardalan Clinical Care Research Center, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran Mohammad-Iraj Bagheri-Saweh Clinical Care Research Center, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran Mashaalah Etemadi-Sanandaji Clinical Care Research Center, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran Bijan Nouri Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran Sina Valiee Clinical Care Research Center, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran 2017 12 07 2018 02 21 Background & Aim: Communication with the patient is the basis for nursing practice in providing care for the patient. The aim of this study was to determine the barriers to nurse-patient communication from the viewpoint of nurses working in educational hospitals of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 151 of nursing staff in educational hospitals of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences selected by convenience sampling method. Data gathering tool was a questionnaire including demographic characteristics and “barriers to nurse-patient communication” questionnaire with four-part: common barriers between nurses and patients, nurses’ barriers, patients’ barriers and environmental barriers. The data were analyzed by SPSS software ver 16. The demographic data and the barriers to nurse-patient communication were measured, using frequency, mean, and standard deviation. Results: Cultural difference between nurses and patients (2.62±1.06) was the most common barriers to the nurse-patient communication. The most important barriers related to the patient included the patient's companion’s interference (3.24±0.92). Among the environmental barriers, caring for a critical patient (3.27±0.98) was the most important barriers. The most important nurses’ barriers was lack of time (3.46±0.78). Conclusions: Nurses and nursing managers should work to address and remove the barriers identified in relation to the nurse-patient communication. Providing care by native and same gender nurses, absence of patients' companion, creating a quiet environment and increasing the number of nursing staff could help to overcome these barriers https://npt.tums.ac.ir/index.php/npt/article/view/319 https://npt.tums.ac.ir/index.php/npt/article/download/319/284