Communication in Nursing Practices
Good Communication skills possessed by nurses play a huge role in the healing process of their patients and entire nursing fraternity. The nurses must help the patients during their most tempting times to observe the language etiquette (Kourkouta & Papathanasiou, 2014). The characteristics of which are: kindness, courtesy and sincerity. The nurses must remain faithful in their communication with the patient and they must communicate in a language that can be understood by both the patients and the family members taking care of the patients. Communication is not just limited to the physical abilities of the nurses but borrows from the experiences and education received over the years. Nursing is a healthcare science which aims to serve the needs of the patients as a spiritual and a biopsychosocial being (Kourkouta & Papathanasiou, 2014). Nursing incorporates personal abilities, technical skills abilities to achieve the desired outcome in patients (Kourkouta & Papathanasiou, 2014). The nursing practice as a whole is a process that requires great level of communication between the patients and the nurse. The procedures such as therapy, rehabilitation, health education and promotion require the nurse to explain to the affected persons the importance of the procedure. Sometimes the patient may be nervous or scared. Talking to such a patient helps them calm down and restores the confidence.
Communication is basically the exchange of thoughts, feeling or information through various means. The nurses may need to share the patients’ information with other medical providers during therapeutical practices (Arnold & Boggs, 2015). The nurse may also need to talk to the patients advising them on the appropriate cause of treatment to take. At times a new drug or form of treatment is introduced and the patients are reluctant to use it despite it being more effective than usual one. The role is left to the nurse to talk to the patients to convince the patients to take the treatment willingly. The doctors also trust the nurses to record the appropriate information from the patient concerning the kind of diseases they are suffering from. From the patient’s description, the nurse can determine the appropriate medication to give out to treat the condition. For the nurse to gain the knowledge of this kind of data, they must build certain kind of a bond that will enable the patients comfortable expressing themselves to them. Listening to the patient alone is not enough. The nurses also need to master the art of communication in such a way that when they speak, the patient is able to grab the information without much struggle.
There is need to train nurses in communication. The reason is because the field of nursing sometimes is rough. Losing a patient under the care of a nurse my devastate them. They may end up carrying the emotions when handling the next patient and end up committing errors (Kourkouta & Papathanasiou, 2014). Sometimes they transfer the stress at work to home. Patients become easily irritated because of their conditions and the pain they go through each passing moment. The nurses need to calm down the patient by explaining to them they are going to get better. If the nurse reacts in an equally high tone to the one they reserve from the patients then they are likely to make the situation worse.
The principles of communication state that it is an intrinsic character of human nature (Arnold & Boggs, 2015). As a result, it follows a sequence where one person listens while the other speaks and vice versa. When one party fails to pay attention to what is being said by the other side, then attitudes and the negative conclusion will develop (Arnold & Boggs, 2015). The message that the sender gives must not necessarily be the same as what the receiver gets. It depends on how the person listening to the message interprets the information. This is the mistake that is committed by most medical providers. They use medical terms that the patients are not able to understand as they are meant to be. The patient will interpret the information in their understanding which has often resulted into stress. It is appropriate for the nurse to use a language the patient is comfortable with instead of sticking to scientific terms that result into more negativity that they are meant to.
The communication takes different forms apart from the verbal expression. There is non-verbal communication which brought by the expressing in the face, the posture, and the body movements that accompanies verbal communication (Kourkouta & Papathanasiou, 2014). The nurse needs to learn to match the non-verbal expressions to what the patient is saying. Sometimes the patient may express the feeling of having healed through their words but their body language says something else. The nurse should be quick to read all the signs and make the appropriate decision according to what they see. The nurse must learn the characteristics of all the patients because of each of them possess different traits.
The nurse will interact with the patient from the first time they enter the hospital all the way to therapeutic stage (Arnold & Boggs, 2015). The relationship is built on the first early stages through acts of kindness and courtesy from the part of the nurse. The patient will definitely reciprocate the same kindness. If the relationship starts on a wrong foot, then there will be a lot of negativity involved throughout the whole process. The nurses should ensure the patients that the information they get will remain confidential between them. In some hospitals, there are conversations held between the nurses and the third parties outside the rooms or in the corridors. The situation makes the patients uneasy and afraid to share their information with the nurses. Communication takes time besides the privacy and the confidentiality that is needed. Each patient has their own time that they will reveal their problems to the nurses. The nurse needs to be patient and to ensure they give the undivided attention to the patients. Some patients will need 20 minutes while others will require hours (Kourkouta & Papathanasiou, 2014).
Conclusion
The patient after giving out their explanation to the nurse expects to hear a response. The problem of miscommunication again occurs when the nurse is giving feedback to the patient. Sometimes, the patient may not be able to understand the scientific terms used by the nurse due to their level of education. They will feel embraced and will not express how they feel or look for any more explanations from the nurses. The nurse should be able to determine the level of education of the patients and then deliver the explanation in a language that will be easy for them to understand. As a result, communication skills play a huge role in the performance of the nurses. A nurse who is able to communicate effectively with the patients will produce the desired outcome with a short duration.
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