Communication and Interpersonal Skills

The aim of this assignment is to critique a role play, and look at the positive and negative,

that relates theory and knowledge regarding the use of communication and interpersonal

skills, and how and when to use verbal, non-verbal and Para-verbal communication within

the role play scenario that was chosen. The author will also discuss the different models of

Communication, and how they use a person centred approach to counsel and interact, and

how best to handle and approach a situation in the correct manner.

The role play that was chosen to critique was role play 2, Barry had an appointment to see a counsellor, which was booked by his general practitioner to discuss the problems of his drug and alcohol abuse, and how the counsellor could help him deal with his situation. The literature search the author conducted on communication was extensive and vast and allowed the author to analyse the event to conclude what was good and bad about the scenario.

Firstly after conducting a literature search regarding communication and inter-personal skills, it was found that communication is defined by many such as, Burnard, (1992) states, “communication occurs all of the time between people, not just verbally, but non-verbally too, by ways of gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice and so on”. However Fielding, (1995) argues that, “communication is the transmission of messages from one person to another. These messages contain information and the sender of these messages intends particular meanings to reach the receiver of the message.” Heath, (1997) also argues that, “communication occurs in various ways and at diverse levels of awareness.”

Before undertaking any communication, it is important to assess the client/patients l...

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...er advocate for the patients that I treat within my care. After examining the vast literature on communication and interpersonal skills, I found that good communication is central to the nursing profession and plays a key factor in the recovery, compliance, and satisfaction of patients.

So more emphasis should be placed on training and mandatory in-house sessions within the healthcare and social setting, as bad communication is a big factor within my role which can lead to mistrust, giving the wrong diagnosis and different goals to be achieved, which in my opinion is not a complete care package that is seamless. Within my role I must become more of an active listener to enable myself to listen for underlying meanings, not just the facts to how the message a patient/client is trying to portray.