Introduction
Effective communication between nurses and patients is significant for the successful result of individualized care of every patient. Nurses should comprehend and help their patients by portraying consideration, honesty, and compassion to attain this. Besides, they should devote their time to the patient to communicate with the necessary confidentiality. Effective communication thus requires the nurses to understand the patient’s concerns and convey a message that is understandable and acceptable (O’Hagan et al., 2014). This involves using verbal and non-verbal communication skills besides active listening. This paper discusses why it is essential for nurses to communicate effectively with patients, effective communication strategies, and barriers to effective communication.
Importance of Effective Communication
Communication between the nurses and patients begins at the first contact until the end of the therapeutic relationship. Therefore, the nurses should develop the right relationship with the patient by demonstrating courtesy and kindness from the first contact. The patient should be comfortable with the nurse to express their concerns freely. Thus, effective communication is essential in the healthcare setting since nursing care is delivered through dialogue using various skills of verbal communication and non-verbal communication. Effective communication in the healthcare setting is necessary due to various reasons. First, it helps the nurse easily understand the patient’s condition and needs. When the nurse establishes a safe environment for the patient to express their needs at first contact, it will be easy for the nurse to understand the patient’s condition (Bello, 2017). This is because the patient will be free to express their condition without fear. Additionally, effective communication helps the nurse understand patients’ emotional conditions. Effective communication helps the nurse engage in a deep level of caregiving since they can know if the patient’s physical well-being is affected by their emotional state. Therefore, this helps the nurse make appropriate decisions on the treatment plans for the patient. Thus, nurses should practice effective communication in order to offer their patients effective care.
Effective Communication Strategies
Effective communication strategies involve the scheme approach of planning how to convey information. In a health care setting, effective communication strategies include asking open-ended questions such as if the patient has anything else to share. This helps the patient share everything affecting them that they had not shared earlier. In the two scenarios, the nurses demonstrated this strategy, and the patient was able to open up about other issues disturbing her apart from the pain. In the second scenario, the nurse showed this strategy by asking the patient to rate the extent of her pain between zero to 10 so as to understand what the patient felt. Another effective communication strategy in the health care setting involves speaking in plain language, whereby the nurses avoid using medical jargon but instead use straightforward language to communicate with the patients. In cases where the use of medical terminologies is essential, the nurses must explain to the patient the meaning of the term (Anders, 2021). The nurses used this strategy in the two scenarios since they interviewed the patient using plain language that the patient easily understood. Besides, in a health care setting, active listening is an important communication strategy whereby the nurse listens carefully to the patient it understands their experience. Active listening involves both verbal and nonverbal communication skills such as nodding the head and maintaining eye contact (Kourkouta & Papathanasiou, 2014). In the second scenario, the nurse demonstrated active listening by maintaining eye contact with the patient as she expressed herself and did not interrupt as the patient was speaking. This helped the nurse to understand the condition of the patient better.
Barriers to Effective Communication
There are various barriers to effective communication between nurses and patients, leading to adverse consequences such as misdiagnosis and frustrations for the patients. Some barriers include language barriers, whereby the two parties cannot understand each other since they do not understand the language being used. In the setting, some of the ineffective therapeutic communication approaches used by the interviewer include a lack of empathy from the nurse. In the first scenario, when the patient expressed other issues she was facing and started to break down, instead of the nurse listening to her and comforting her that she would be okay, she left. This may make the patient feel frustrated since no one was there to comfort her hence developing a negative attitude towards the healthcare center (Alshammari et al., 2019). Besides, the interviewer demonstrated a lack of time when interviewing the patient, which is an ineffective therapeutic technique. The interviewer kept looking at the watch, which might mean that she had no time to listen to the patient’s needs, leading to frustrations for the patient. Also, the nurse might misdiagnose the patient since she did not give the patient enough time to express the way she felt. Also, the nurse was busy writing notes instead of listening actively to the patient. This is an ineffective communication approach since it demonstrates a lack of care (Norouzinia et al., 2016). Lack of active listening establishes an inappropriate setting such that the patient may feel unsafe to share their condition because they feel uncared for.
Enhancing Effective Communication
Promoting effective communication in a healthcare setting is very significant since it leads to the success of nurses’ main goal: offering quality care to the patients. Therefore, the nurses should consider practicing active listening by maintaining eye contact without interrupting to enhance effective communication. This creates an environment for the patient to their condition fully. Besides, the nurses should ask open-ended questions as they try to understand the state of the patient. Asking open-ended questions does not limit the patient to answering yes or no but gives them a chance to clearly express themselves and say more about what they feel (Farrington & Townsend, 2014). Also, nurses should be empathetic to the patients by giving supportive comments and assuring the patient that the nurse is there for them and understands what they are feeling. This shows the patient that the nurse cares about their condition and gives them confidence that they will receive quality care from the nurse. Additionally, the nurses should have patience when handling a patient. The nurse should provide enough time for the patient to express their condition and try to understand it without hurry. A nurse should not keep looking at their watch, showing the patient they are in a hurry which may make the patient withhold necessary information.
Conclusion
Effective communication in the health care setting is vital since it leads to better and quality care of nurses towards the patients. Effective communication helps the nurses understand the condition of the patient. Different communication approaches are very significant in the healthcare setting, such as active listening to the patient by the nurses and giving the patient enough time to express themselves. In the two scenarios given between the interviewer and the patient, the second scenario shows cases of effective communication strategies such as active listening by the interviewer. Some ineffective communication approaches are evident in the first scenario, where the interviewer does not show empathy to the patient and lacks patience. This creates a bad setting, and the patient may fail to give all the details, leading to poor treatment.
References
Alshammari, M., Duff, J., & Guilhermino, M. (2019). Barriers to nurse-patient communication in Saudi Arabia: an integrative review. BMC nursing, 18(1), 1-10.
Anders, R. L. (2021). Practical tips for effective communication. Nursing Management, 52(6), 10-13.
Bello, O. (2017). Effective communication in nursing practice: A literature review.
Farrington, N., & Townsend, K. (2014). Enhancing nurse-patient communication: a critical reflection. British Journal of Nursing, 23(14), 771-775.
Kourkouta, L., & Papathanasiou, I. V. (2014). Communication in nursing practice. Materia socio-medica, 26(1), 65.
Norouzinia, R., Aghabarari, M., Shiri, M., Karimi, M., & Samami, E. (2016). Communication barriers perceived by nurses and patients. Global journal of health science, 8(6), 65.
O’Hagan, S., Manias, E., Elder, C., Pill, J., Woodward‐Kron, R., McNamara, T., … & McColl, G. (2014). What counts as effective communication in nursing? Evidence from nurse educators’ and clinicians’ feedback on nurse interactions with simulated patients. Journal of advanced nursing, 70(6), 1344-1355.
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