NUR1102 Effective communication between nurses and patient

 

Introduction

Effective communication between nurses and patients helps the nurses to deliver quality care, ensuring that patients feel safe and confident which is important during the treatment. In this essay, we are going to discuss the importance of therapeutic communication which involves the procedure of face-to-face interaction to provide information and support to the patient focusing on their emotional and physical wellbeing. We will discuss the case of Mrs. Pamela Jones and will elucidate the communication gap between nurse and the patient, and how with effective care plan the nurses can attain effective therapeutic communication. Also will discuss different method and skills that can support the nurses to ensure effective therapeutic communication implementation in the workplace, and how in the given case it can help to ensure a better outcome.  In the end, a conclusion relevant to it will be given.

Discussion

Effective communication skill is vital to implement in nursing to avoid medical errors, ambiguity, and help in solving the problem to certify better experience for the patients. In the given scenario, we can identify the communication gap between nurses and patient which has given rise to ambiguity.  Mrs. Pamela Jones aged 78 has had some episodes of confusion and disorientation in the facility, particularly with finding her bed, she became frustrated about her failing memory and asked to call the staff who cared for her today to come, as her son arrive and find her mother crying, he seems upset with the care provided by me. In this scenario, the communication gap with the patient could have been avoided by staying close to the patient and communicating effectively showing empathy would have made the patient comfortable so that better care could have been provided. Communication help nurses and patient to connect and share thoughts which help in identifying the need of the patient supporting quality care (Sibiya, 2018).  Also, it is vital to implement effective communication skill both verbal and non-verbal when caring for the patient with memory loss, both verbal and non-verbal communication skills will help in building trust and will comfort the patient which is vital in delivering quality care (Blake & Blake, 2019).  Now I fully understand that implementing therapeutic communication is crucial in avoiding ambiguity and medical errors. Therapeutic communication skills support nurses to demonstrate the skills and knowledge that is expected from them to certify that they are aware of patient needs and wellbeing, help in identifying the patient beliefs and value, permit time to communicate with the patient, encourage the patient to express their thoughts and feeling (e.g., discomfort, problem, fear, etc.) support in ensuring that quality care is delivered as per patient need (Conceicao et al., 2019).

Concept of Care

In nursing, caring referred to the term of displaying compassion, empathy, concern, and kindness to ensure quality patient-centered care to foster a co-operative relationship with others. In relevant to the given scenario, Mrs. Jones is not contented, thus, I  by usingtherapeutic communication skills showingempathy and recognizing patient strength could have made Mrs. Jones comfortable so that she can share her feelings.  Also, as we know in delivering carereviewing patient medical history and information is a vital step in delivering patient-centered care and avoiding the conflict.  Reviewing health record regularly of the patient help in improving all aspect of patient care including patient-centeredness, safety, communication, etc. (Jansen, Coenen & Hardiker, 2017). Medical records of the patient support the nurse to be aware of medical necessity and care to be delivered so that confusion can be avoided at work (Dillard-Wright, 2019).  The concept of care comprises 6’C of caring including compassion, confidence, competence, conscience, comportment, and commitment (Cook &Peden, 2017). These are helpful in stay focus on the patient needs and will support in delivering quality care. In nursing, comfort is a vital concept which is a key caring behaviour expected from nurses. In Mrs. Jones's scenario, the concept of comfort might have avoided the problem as by making the patient comfortable through effective communication might have helped in understanding patient requirements, spending time with the patient might benefit easing patient discomfort. Nurses working considering 6’ C of caring such as competence which helps in providing car effectively in compliance to workplace policy and procedure, the compassion that involves certifying patient receives excellent care by understanding the patient need, confidence that supports nurses to implement their own knowledge and skills to act expertly in tough situations, commitment help carer to prioritize patient need, conscience aware carer about their ethical responsibility to focus on patients issues and take effective action to solve their problem, and comportment help carer to conduct their duties in a dignified manner displaying therapeutic communication skills (Arnold & Boggs, 2019).

Therapeutic CommunicationStrategies, Skills and Approaches

Therapeutic communication strategies like questioning, focusing, analyzing, active listening, exploring, reflecting, etc. help in ensuring effective communication between nurse, patient, and family (Moosvi & Garbutt, 2020).

Focusing:  nurses focusing on the patient prioritizing help in delivering quality care. In health care using therapeutic communication strategies supports carer to pay attention to small things that can affect the patient, and this scenario is vital for the nurses to talk to the family of the patient and educate the patient and their family about the care plan. About Mrs. Jones scenario can say that this might have helped in being aware of the patient need so that ambiguity could have been avoided.

Active Listening: active listening is a vital part of the communication, it helps nurses purposefully understanding the patient words, and understand the thought and feeling of the patient which also support in avoiding medical uncertainty. I realized showing appreciation of individual strength and communicating warmly when Mrs. Jones getting frustrated about her memory failure could have comforted the patient.

Questions: Reviewing patient medical records to get deeper information about the client when delivering care. Both open and closed-ended questions with the team are useful when the patient is not able to communicate with the nurse. Thus, about the given scenario, I can say that this therapeutic communication strategy is very important to be aware of the patient's behaviour, medical necessity, etc. which could have helped in avoiding the issue.

Silence: silence is another therapeutic communication strategy that is helpful when the carer wants to give them sufficient time to understand the client's thoughts, beliefs, and feelings. 

Clarification: asking clarification of the information or messages with staff and patient help in validating the messages to provide care without any errors, or false assumptions. Exploring, reflecting and paraphrasing help in attain specific clarification to certify quality patient-centered care. Exploring strategy helps encourage the patient and staff to provide more details and information about particular health care issues. About Mrs. Jones scenario, this strategy might have helped in gathering information about the patient and the issue of the memory failure so that the problem of Mrs. Jones finding her bed could have been avoided. Paraphrasing help in clarifying patient message.

Reflection: the therapeutic communication reflect on what carer believe about the patient feels and thought, even when the client is not able to express their feeling to the nurses. For instance, noticing patient body language and other non-verbal cues can help in identifying the patient thoughts and feelings so that the carer can assist and support the patient effectively without any ambiguity.

Respecting: respecting and acknowledging client thought which is shown during the communication also helps in building a good relationship with the client which supports delivering quality care. 

Correct Misinformation: disagreeing is not therapeutic, thus, the carer must try to correct misinformation acceptably and therapeutically but should never argue with the client.

Thus, by considering the following therapeutic strategies the communication gap with the patient can be avoided.

Reflection           

As I learned about the concept of caring and importance of the therapeutic communication I believe that this vital tool to avoid all kinds of ambiguity at the work, communication is the key to understand the patients and their need so that an effective plan can be made to deliver quality care. Whether it is about reassuring the patient need with patient or through analysing medical records, using effective communication skills both verbal and non-verbal to understand patient emotions and make the patient comfortable is very important points to be considered when delivering quality patient-centered care.

Conclusion

In Mrs. Pamela Jones scenario the communication gap was the biggest issue that caused the ambiguity, I have identified that therapeutic communication is an effective way to assure that I demonstrate knowledge and skills that will help in identifying the medical necessity of the patient and will also help in recognizing patient thoughts and feelings. As I learned about the concept of caring and importance of the therapeutic communication I believe that this vital tool to avoid all kind of ambiguity at the work, communication is the key to understand the patients and their need so that effective plan can be made to deliver quality care, also therapeutic strategy like questioning, reflecting, active listening, silence, and confirming the information with the staff and patient can help in managing the conflicting situation in a therapeutic manner.

Reference

Arnold, E. C., & Boggs, K. U. (2019). Interpersonal Relationships E-Book: Professional Communication Skills for Nurses. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Blake, T., & Blake, T. (2019). Improving therapeutic communication in nursing through simulation exercise. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 14(4), 260-264.

Conceição, C., Guedes, M. J., Rosa, S., Martins, V., Figueiredo, M. C., Godinho, C., & Ferreira, S. (2019). P14 Therapeutic communication in nursing centered in the informal caregiver: a scoping review. European Journal of Public Health, 29(Supplement_2), ckz095-011.

Cook, L. B., & Peden, A. (2017). Finding a focus for nursing: The caring concept. Advances in Nursing Science, 40(1), 12-23.

Dillard?Wright, J. (2019). Electronic health record as a panopticon: A disciplinary apparatus in nursing practice. Nursing Philosophy, 20(2), e12239.

Jansen, K., Coenen, A., & Hardiker, N. (2017). Nursing classification and care planning. Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing: The craft of caring.

Moosvi, K., & Garbutt, S. (2020). Shifting Strategies: Using Film to Improve Therapeutic Communication and Nursing Education. Nursing education perspectives, 41(2), 134-135.

Sibiya, M. N. (2018). Effective Communication in Nursing. Nursing, 19.

 

 

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