Professional Communication, Provision of Information and Handover

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It is essential for a nurse to be able to demonstrate and practice professional communication skills, provision of information and handover to provide a holistic approach to treating and caring for patients. Professional communication skills not only allows the nurse to provide different methods and tactics to communicate with patients of different needs and ages, but it enables the nurse to understand and to give the best possible care and outcome for the patient. Provision of information and handover is another major point for nurses and relates to professional communication. Nurses need to be able to get a detailed diagnosis from the patient through communication, and therefore allows for the nurse to handover vital information to other doctors or nurses who take over to provide the correct and best possible treatments and care. The nursing profession requires a nurse to uphold professional communication, provision of information and handover in order to care for the patient with the right treatment, and to provide the best health outcome. According to Boykin “Caring is the foundation of nursing” (Boykin et al, 2011), and it is the nurses’ responsibility to understand what it means to be caring toward patients, which can be achieved through having professional communication skills. Not only does not being able to communicate affect the patient, but also it affects how the nurse is able to do his or her job to the best they can. Smith and Pressman say that the Institute of Medicine has released reports, which stress, “good communication is critical to ensuring safe and reliable nursing” (Smith & Pressman, 2010). Bad communication skills have the potential to be more dangerous to the patient and can in tern make a life-threateni... ... middle of paper ... ...y.qut.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=a25753c4-0b7a-4828-a385-14a0421c9dfe%40sessionmgr110&vid=2&hid=122. Vogel-Scibilia, S. & McNulty, K. & Baxter, B. & Miller, S. & Dine, M. & Frese III, F. (2009). The Recovery Process Utilizing Erikson’s Stages of Human Development. Community Ment Health J. 45, 405-414. DOI: 10.1007/s10597-009-9189-4. Webb, L. & Holland, K. (2011). Nursing: Communication Skills in Practice. Nursing Education in Practice. Retrieved from http://gateway.library.qut.edu.au/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/1446976140?accountid=13380. Westhead, C. (2007). Perioperative Nursing Management of the Elderly Patient. Canadian Operating Room Nursing Journal, 25(3), 34-41. Retrieved from http://gateway.library.qut.edu.au/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/274594603?accountid=13380.

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