One of the most important aspects in the nursing profession is the need for good and effective communication. This is because good communication skills especially in the nurse-patient relationship have a significant impact on patient safety and recovery. Effective communication skills in the clinical setting are critical for the development of nurse-patient relationship and provision of health care information (Bruderle, 2003). Nurses usually exchange information with physicians, patients, colleagues and other people in the clinical setting. This communication is usually done through a variety of levels and ways, which determine whether it’s effective or not. Due to the importance of communication in the nursing profession and clinical setting, there is a range of different communication strategies including:
General Communication Strategy:
The general communication strategies involve conversation and elaboration, active listening, mutual understanding, and allowing patients to share their thoughts and feelings. One of the most critical aspects of the general communication strategies is active listening and acknowledging patients’ feelings and thoughts. This strategy usually occurs in a social or structured environment where nurses are able to know patients as unique individuals. The strategy also involves the use of both verbal and non-verbal communication ways.
Through the use of verbal communication ways, nurses communicate clearly and with a good tone that helps patients to understand them. For this communication to be effective, nurses wait for a patient’s response once they have communicated clearly. Verbal communication means are mostly used in conversation and elaboration where nurses may make broad open...
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... a patient. This requirement is usually stipulated in the national standard of care in the nursing profession, which is the degree of competency, care and judgment in conducting the nursing function. However, the duty of care does not necessarily require nurses to provide optimal care or have extraordinary skills (“Legal Issues in Nursing”, n.d.). Failure to comply with the required regulations regarding informed consent and duty of care may lead to nurses being sued for incompetence, negligence or illegal conduct.
Conclusion:
As nurses communicate with patients and colleagues in various levels and ways, there is a range of different communication strategies including general and therapeutic ones. Documentation, informed consent, confidentiality, open disclosure and duty of care are aspects that determine communication strategies between nurses and patients.
Communication is cited as a contributing factor in 70% of healthcare mistakes, leading to many initiatives across the healthcare settings to improve the way healthcare professionals communicate. (Kohn, 2000.)
In the nursing profession, communication is a tool to be used effectively in shift-to-shift report to ensure continuity of care and patient safety (Matic, Davidson, & Salamonson, 2010, p. 184). Benson, Rippin-Sisler, Jabusch, and Keast (2007) explain “for a report to be meaningful, the information passed along to the receiver must be done in a way that is effective and efficient; otherwise, the point of communicating the information may be lost” (p. 80). The Joint Commission (TJC) defines barriers in communication as a leading threat to patient safety (Matic et al., 2010, p. 185). Patient safety and continuity of care can be maintained by implementing a handoff communication tool and bedside nurse-to-nurse handoff.
Cultivating teamwork is vital in the fast-moving pace of the Emergency Department. One of the most important ways to cultivate this process is through developing a plan of communication with the team. According to L.J. Hood, communication is “…the dynamic interaction between two or more persons in which ideas, goals, beliefs and values, feelings, and feelings about feelings are exchanged. Even very brief communication exchanges may change all involved parties” (Hood, 2014, P.81). In many scenarios some nurses and staff members are unwilling to be those team players that are needed in a busy nursing unit, and many times nurses and staff will not communicate professionally at all. In these situations, some nurses and staff will require coaching sessions on how to communicate, and in worst case scenarios some nurses and staff, who are unwilling to communicate professionally, will be asked to leave the team
Nurses today need to have excellent communication skills. Receiving information from patients is the most important aspect of nursing. If nurses are unable to communicate with their patient then they would not be able to have a relationship with them. Communication is where two or more people interact with each other, by using sounds and words, this is verbal communication. Some individuals have different behaviors where they try to express themselves to others without using spoken words, this is non verbal communication. Once nurses have the proper communication tools, techniques and evidence based practice, when communicating with their patient, they would get the necessary information needed from the patient to properly diagnosis them.
Communication encompasses a wide range of processes such as the exchange of information, listening, posing of questions (Fleischer et al., 2009) or use of body language. In a healthcare environment where there are constant interactions among nurses, doctors, patients and other health professionals, professional and effective communication is important in ensuring high quality healthcare standards and meeting the individual needs of patients.
Effective communication between patient and clinician is an important aspect to patient care. Proper communication has a direct positive impact on patient care and adversely poor communication has a direct negative impact on patient care. I will define the seven principles of patient-clinician communication and how I apply these communications with my patients. I will also describe the three methods currently being used to improve interdisciplinary communication and the one method that my area of practice currently uses. Then, I will explain the ethical principles that can be applied to issues in patient-clinician communication. And Lastly, the importance of ethics in communication and how patient safety is influenced by good or bad team communication.
The introduction paragraph gives information on communication and the impact that it has on patient-nurse relationships. It gives the reader an understanding of what is involved in true communication and how that it is a fundamental part of nursing and skills all nurses need. It leads those interested in delivering quality nursing to read on. Showing us the significance that communication makes in the
These are Verbal, Non-Verbal and Written communication. Verbal communication refers to spoken contact between individuals, Non-Verbal is unspoken communication such as body language and written communication that uses a different pathway such as a letter. The success of verbal communication is dependent on precise, well defined, clear and age appropriate contact (RCN 2015). For example, a paediatric patient’s diagnosis may be approached with a less detailed account of the illness, thus not to confuse the individual or provoke fear. Furthermore non-verbal communication constructs a large percentage of paediatric nursing cases, due to circumstances where verbal communication is not possible. Patient-oriented care is vital for growing an understanding of the individual’s non-verbal signs of pain, which expressed the importance of actively looking for distress signals (Mattsson 2002). Finally written communication acts as the record keeping and documentation element of nursing care, which is a fundamental skill for all medical staff (NMC 2002). Incorrect written communication can lead to individual missing key changes in a patient’s condition thus leading to a potential fall in a patient’s health (Inan and Dinc
“Communication is the heart of nursing… your ability to use your growing knowledge and yourself as an instrument of care and caring and compassion” (Koerner, 2010, as cited in Balzer-Riley, 2012, p. 2). The knowledge base which Koerner is referring to includes important concepts such as communication, assertiveness, responsibility and caring (Balzer-Riley, 2012). Furthermore, communication is complex. It includes communication with patients, patient families, doctors, co-workers, nurse managers and many others. Due to those concepts and the variety of people involved, barriers and issues are present. Knowing how to communicate efficiently can be difficult.
I have explained three of the seven principles that I use while interacting with my patients daily. The three methods of communication were defined and explained how each is used in the healthcare setting. The communication method that works best on my unit was explained per my unit’s preference. The four-ethical principle regarding communication were explained along with how these principles and team communication affect patient safety. Overall, this paper has demonstrated why communication is important in the health care
Communication in the nursing practice and in healthcare is important because when talking with patients, their families, and staff, the nurse and the nursing student needs to be able to efficiently express the information that they want the other person to understand. “Verbal communication is a primary way of transmitting vital information concerning patient issues in hospital settings” (Raica, 2009, para. 1). When proper communication skills are lacking in nursing practice, the chances of errors and risks to the patient’s safety increases. One crucial aspect of communication that affects the patient care outcome is how the nurse and the nursing student interacts and communicates with the physicians and other staff members. If the nurse is not clear and concise when relaying patient information to other members of the healthcare team the patient care may be below the expected quality.
Irrespective of the form of communication, it has been established that effective healthcare worker to patient communication is vital to ensure necessary instructions will be followed (DV & Rajavel, 2008). The manner by which information is shared has changed over recent years, moving from non-existent or hand written notes to now pre-printed instructions or electronic discharge summaries.
Nontherapeutic techniques such as giving advice and close-ended questions can prove detrimental for the nurse-client relationship. In addition to asking “why” questions, which challenges the client’s actions, the strategy of focusing or using minimal cues and leads may prove more effective. For example, the nursing student asked, “Why do you feel that way?” Instead, she should have said, “And then? Tell me about it,” which encourages the client to continue further. The nursing student does not sound too harsh or instigative, which can improve communication between the client and the nursing student. Effective communication requires “an understanding of the patient and the experiences they express” (Kourkouta & Papathanasiou, 2014, p. 65). As a result, nurses who practice good communication skills as a result effects good quality of care as
Communication involves relaying information from an individual to another through the use of verbal and nonverbal techniques. Many factors affect the effectiveness of information relay. It involves evaluating verbal aspects such as tone of voice, the emotional content being communicated, the timing and rapport of the interaction with patients, and nonverbal techniques such as facial expressions, time invested. It is necessary for productive and satisfactory work environment, improved patient outcomes, and settling conflicts. The purpose of this paper is to identify issues with ineffective communication and ways to improve proper communication throughout the a hospital’s interdisciplinary team and patients.
The term ‘Therapeutic communication’ identifies the way in which a nurse and patient interact, with the main focus being on advancing the emotional well-being of a patient; (Sherko E., et al, 2013) nurses will use this to deliver support and information to Edna. Effective communication skills are essential within nursing and are often seen as one of the main skills necessary for nurses to support patients and their families (Bramhall E, 2014). There are many forms of therapeutic communication that can be used in