Overcoming Communication Barriers In Nursing

Overcoming Barriers to Communication

Good communication is at the heart of patient safety, cultural sensitivity, and the effectiveness of the care provided. The relationship between the physician, the nurse, and the patient is critical in the outcome of the patient’s treatment. A concern with health care today would be making sure the patient fully understands their diagnosis and the treatment plan the physicians have in mind. Health care information can be difficult for patients to understand and even more difficult for people of other cultures. A nurse who does not speak the same language as their patient can create a barrier for effective communication in the nurse-patient relationship. Language is just one of the problems that can occur

Internal issues such as fear and anxiety related to not understanding, becoming emotional or being weak and the inability to express their feelings to the nurse. Health care professional barriers include lack of time or support for the patient, staff conflict and high workload. The nurse can also lack skills or strategies for coping with difficult emotions, reactions, or questions the patient may have. People of other cultures have a specific barrier to communication and that is the language difference in the nurse-patient relationship. Hospitals offer translators for families to better understand what the treatment team is trying to tell them but they are not always there when the nurse is in the room. Nurses can help themselves and the patient when it is one on one with them by trying to learn a few words of their language such as hello, how are you, goodbye, thank you, etc. Learning some words from their culture will make them feel as though you respect

The wife is uncomfortable. They do not speak English well, so an interpreter is found. The interpreter appears to be having difficulty interpreting the woman's symptoms; the history that is obtained is nonspecific. The physician cannot find any abnormalities on physical examination and discharges the patient home. Later, she returns with a ruptured ectopic pregnancy and is immediately admitted to the operating room. A culturally sensitive approach to this situation would be that the physician notices that the interpreter is not able to communicate well with the couple. He asks the interpreter why the history is so difficult to obtain. It takes a few moments to discover that the couple speaks Dari and the interpreter speaks Pashto. ("Cultural Sensitivity and Awareness," 2011, p. 5) Therefore, it is extremely important to make sure that the