Nurse Patient Communication
Why is good communication important in the relationship between practitioner and patient?
In the essay I am going to write about why good communication is vital to a healthy practitioner/patient relationship in clinical areas. I am going to do this by looking at many different ways to communicate and how effective they are. I will also be looking into how barriers can effect good communication. I will achieve this by observing communication skills while out on practice and also by researching other papers and articles in this area.
A definition of communication from is-
“Since human beings are social animals they have a need to communicate. Communication is the ex-change of messages between two or more individuals. The sender must use the …show more content…
best method to send the message; the message must be clear; the receiver must be able to receive the message. A defect in any one of these factors will result in poor communication”. (Introduction to nursing care, Johnson Heyward. Et al. 1976 page 19)
This quote looks into the basic principle of good communication, like the sender must use the best method and have the ability/skill to do a quick evaluation of which type of communication would be best suited to each patient as every patient is different. For example you need to look at the barriers you may face with this patient i.e. language and evaluate how you will overcome this and appear approachable. It also states that if any of these basic factors are not achieved that it will result in poor communication which is of major detriment to hospitals and the NHS in general.
“A number of surveys carried out by (Cartwright 1964; Raphael 1969; Skeet 1970) have show that poor communication between practitioners and patients are what the patients are most critical about within their hospital experience”. (Jill Macleod Clark et al. 1981).
In the book communication in the nursing context it explains that clients from different subcultures may have trouble communicating their needs to a nurse due to the language barrier and this could cause great anxiety for both the nurse and the patient. Nurses may need to call upon interpreters or non verbal behaviour to understand the patient’s needs. (Jean C. Bradley,et al 1990) Communication is different for everybody, and having a wide knowledge and understanding of a variety of good ways to communicate will help you develop a good relationship with a patient. Verbal communication is a process of sending and receiving messages with words, and writing. There are many different ways to communicate verbally, the two main ones that are used in a clinical environment by practitioners to patients and vice versa is are, face to face discussions and telephone conversations. These two are the most effective by which a message being sent is being understood by the receiver as it can allow for questions to be asked and answered. Many factors can affect the way these two types of verbal communication are being delivered, such as the tone of your voice, your pronunciation and your word choice, but these can also have a detrimental effect to the relationship if not produced properly. For example if you are angry all of these factors will be effected, your tone of voice may sound irritable, you may be talking quicker which will in turn make your pronunciation poor. It may also affect your word choice as it may be limited due to the speed in which you are talking. All this can lead to bad verbal communication which can lead to the patient feeling confused and worried, it may also leave the patient feeling angry due to treatment they may feel they have received, this in turn could affect future conversations and the relationship between the practitioner and patient. “Nurses need to learn the complexity of the process called communication in order to understand and meet the patients need better” (Will Bridge et al, 1981).
“There are other forms of verbal communication of which a practitioner needs to be aware.
These can be crying, grunting and whimpering even though no words are being spoken they are trying to send out a message. Due to the lack of understanding of communication nurses tend to ignore or dismiss these signs of distress or offer support by saying ‘it’s all right’ or ‘don’t worry’ instead of sitting with the patients to talk to them about their worries and anxiety”. (Jennifer Wilson Barnett 1981) I witnessed a nurse acknowledge these signs whilst out on placement when a gentleman was grunting the nurse went over to ask if he was ok and he told her that he was in a lot of pain and would like some pain relief. His grunting had made the nurse more aware of his presence and suggested to her that something maybe wrong and so when she investigated it she found out the problem and had it quickly resolved. These forms of verbal communication can sometimes easily be misunderstood though, for example crying could be perceived in many different ways. You could cry because you are happy, sad or in pain. So they always need to be followed up by an effective form of verbal …show more content…
communication.
Another form of communication that is also vital to the relationship is non-verbal communication.
Nonverbal communication is usually understood as the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless messages. These can be sign language, facial expressions, gesture, body language, your posture, eye gaze and appearance. All of these factors can have major effects on your relationship. If you have bad non verbal communication skills it doesn’t matter what you are discussing with the patient this is all they will be aware of. (Phil Russell 2007) If you are having a conversation with a patient and they are talking it is good to promote interpersonal communication skills by keeping good eye contact with them, to show them that you are interested and listening. When you are talking to someone you should be aware of your body language, if you are standing over them whilst they are sitting and you have your arms crossed you are going to make the patient feel uneasy and it may affect the conversation. You should also always try to be at the same eye level as the person you are talking to. Another really important part of non-verbal communication is your facial expression it should be at an expression that is appropriate to the conversation for example if you are having a conversation with someone about their family and they are happy you should be smiling as well to show your interest, if you had a frown the patient may feel that they are boring you or wasting your
time. Whilst on my placement a patient who normally bathed himself in a morning was complaining to an auxiliary of being in particular pain and requesting some assistance to wash and dress, the auxiliary rolled her eyes and frowned at the patient. This caused the patient to feel as if they had done something wrong and they became anxious and were asking the staff around what they had done to make this auxiliary not like them. This was very bad practise from the auxiliary who was frustrated because they had been left short staffed but the effect on the patient was detrimental. All these forms of non-verbal communication interlink with verbal communication. BirdWhistell (1970) suggests that as much as 70 percent of social interactions are conveyed by non verbal communication skills. (Richard Hogston et al, 2007) An important part of non-verbal communication that is sometimes over looked is appearance. People will react differently to you on how they see your appearance for example if your clothes are dirty and scruffy and your hair is a mess, they may not feel comfortable with you treating them and this may affect your relationship. Nurses are expected in their job role to have a certain standard of dress and professional attitude when on duty. (Nicola M. Neale, 2001) Human nature makes us all very judgement on first appearances and this should always be remembered as a vital part to having a good relationship between practitioner and patient. Sign language is an important part of non verbal communication as you may come across patients who are deaf or may be hard of hearing this immediately will affect your communication as you cannot sign in a tone so your facial expressions need to convey how you are feeling. You may need to bring in a third party which will also affect your relationship as you will always have to go through this third party making it less confidential. It is also important when looking at non verbal communication to consider the patient’s non verbal communication as well as your own. Nurses need to gauge whether a conversation is wanted by a patient by asking simple questions and watching their body language and seeing if it is appropriate to sit down. Some patients might not want the conversation but simply the comfort of knowing someone is there with them. ( Jenifer Wilson Barnett, 1981)
Good communication is vital to all relationships in clinical areas like patient/pactioner, practitioner to practitioner etc. A lot of barriers can affect this and practitioners should always be aware of these and try and avoid them. For example when you are talking to a patient you should always try and avoid jargon that they will not understand, this may lead to them feeling confused and some patients might not want to ask what is meant by it so they may unaware of what is happening. Which is very bad practise because the patient should always be made to feel at ease. It could also lead to misinterpretation which could leave the patient thinking something is much worse than it is or that something has gotten better when in fact this may not be the case. Other barriers include a lack of time to spend with patients maybe building up a relationship or having the time to talk to them at full length of new information to do with their health. Trained staff frequently complain about the pressure of administrative and paper work. ( Jenifer Wilson Barnett, 1981) Also interruptions, some wards can be very busy and cause a lot of interruptions. On my placement the ward was very busy and it was only staffed by two registered nurses this lead them to be needed a lot of the time and leading to many interruptions from them dealing with patients, talking to relatives or talking to people on the phone. This can affect relationships dramatically if not managed properly.
To conclude good communication is vital to healthy relationship between practitioner and patient because it offsets how effectively the patient’s time in a clinical area will be. All the evidence found shows that patients can be affected physiologically by bad communication. It makes them feel anxious and at unease and when in a clinical area when we need the patient to feel comfortable and at ease to achieve their health status back to the norm. To develop a good relationship with a patient is a vital part of helping them to get better and this can only be achieved when both parties are good at communicating and have a basic understanding the importance of good communication.
In the essay I am going to write about why good communication is vital to a healthy practitioner/patient relationship in clinical areas. I am going to do this by looking at many different ways to communicate and how effective they are. I will also be looking into how barriers can effect good communication. I will achieve this by observing communication skills while out on practice and also by researching other papers and articles in this area.
A definition of communication from is-
“Since human beings are social animals they have a need to communicate. Communication is the ex-change of messages between two or more individuals. The sender must use the …show more content…
best method to send the message; the message must be clear; the receiver must be able to receive the message. A defect in any one of these factors will result in poor communication”. (Introduction to nursing care, Johnson Heyward. Et al. 1976 page 19)
This quote looks into the basic principle of good communication, like the sender must use the best method and have the ability/skill to do a quick evaluation of which type of communication would be best suited to each patient as every patient is different. For example you need to look at the barriers you may face with this patient i.e. language and evaluate how you will overcome this and appear approachable. It also states that if any of these basic factors are not achieved that it will result in poor communication which is of major detriment to hospitals and the NHS in general.
“A number of surveys carried out by (Cartwright 1964; Raphael 1969; Skeet 1970) have show that poor communication between practitioners and patients are what the patients are most critical about within their hospital experience”. (Jill Macleod Clark et al. 1981).
In the book communication in the nursing context it explains that clients from different subcultures may have trouble communicating their needs to a nurse due to the language barrier and this could cause great anxiety for both the nurse and the patient. Nurses may need to call upon interpreters or non verbal behaviour to understand the patient’s needs. (Jean C. Bradley,et al 1990) Communication is different for everybody, and having a wide knowledge and understanding of a variety of good ways to communicate will help you develop a good relationship with a patient. Verbal communication is a process of sending and receiving messages with words, and writing. There are many different ways to communicate verbally, the two main ones that are used in a clinical environment by practitioners to patients and vice versa is are, face to face discussions and telephone conversations. These two are the most effective by which a message being sent is being understood by the receiver as it can allow for questions to be asked and answered. Many factors can affect the way these two types of verbal communication are being delivered, such as the tone of your voice, your pronunciation and your word choice, but these can also have a detrimental effect to the relationship if not produced properly. For example if you are angry all of these factors will be effected, your tone of voice may sound irritable, you may be talking quicker which will in turn make your pronunciation poor. It may also affect your word choice as it may be limited due to the speed in which you are talking. All this can lead to bad verbal communication which can lead to the patient feeling confused and worried, it may also leave the patient feeling angry due to treatment they may feel they have received, this in turn could affect future conversations and the relationship between the practitioner and patient. “Nurses need to learn the complexity of the process called communication in order to understand and meet the patients need better” (Will Bridge et al, 1981).
“There are other forms of verbal communication of which a practitioner needs to be aware.
These can be crying, grunting and whimpering even though no words are being spoken they are trying to send out a message. Due to the lack of understanding of communication nurses tend to ignore or dismiss these signs of distress or offer support by saying ‘it’s all right’ or ‘don’t worry’ instead of sitting with the patients to talk to them about their worries and anxiety”. (Jennifer Wilson Barnett 1981) I witnessed a nurse acknowledge these signs whilst out on placement when a gentleman was grunting the nurse went over to ask if he was ok and he told her that he was in a lot of pain and would like some pain relief. His grunting had made the nurse more aware of his presence and suggested to her that something maybe wrong and so when she investigated it she found out the problem and had it quickly resolved. These forms of verbal communication can sometimes easily be misunderstood though, for example crying could be perceived in many different ways. You could cry because you are happy, sad or in pain. So they always need to be followed up by an effective form of verbal …show more content…
communication.
Another form of communication that is also vital to the relationship is non-verbal communication.
Nonverbal communication is usually understood as the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless messages. These can be sign language, facial expressions, gesture, body language, your posture, eye gaze and appearance. All of these factors can have major effects on your relationship. If you have bad non verbal communication skills it doesn’t matter what you are discussing with the patient this is all they will be aware of. (Phil Russell 2007) If you are having a conversation with a patient and they are talking it is good to promote interpersonal communication skills by keeping good eye contact with them, to show them that you are interested and listening. When you are talking to someone you should be aware of your body language, if you are standing over them whilst they are sitting and you have your arms crossed you are going to make the patient feel uneasy and it may affect the conversation. You should also always try to be at the same eye level as the person you are talking to. Another really important part of non-verbal communication is your facial expression it should be at an expression that is appropriate to the conversation for example if you are having a conversation with someone about their family and they are happy you should be smiling as well to show your interest, if you had a frown the patient may feel that they are boring you or wasting your
time. Whilst on my placement a patient who normally bathed himself in a morning was complaining to an auxiliary of being in particular pain and requesting some assistance to wash and dress, the auxiliary rolled her eyes and frowned at the patient. This caused the patient to feel as if they had done something wrong and they became anxious and were asking the staff around what they had done to make this auxiliary not like them. This was very bad practise from the auxiliary who was frustrated because they had been left short staffed but the effect on the patient was detrimental. All these forms of non-verbal communication interlink with verbal communication. BirdWhistell (1970) suggests that as much as 70 percent of social interactions are conveyed by non verbal communication skills. (Richard Hogston et al, 2007) An important part of non-verbal communication that is sometimes over looked is appearance. People will react differently to you on how they see your appearance for example if your clothes are dirty and scruffy and your hair is a mess, they may not feel comfortable with you treating them and this may affect your relationship. Nurses are expected in their job role to have a certain standard of dress and professional attitude when on duty. (Nicola M. Neale, 2001) Human nature makes us all very judgement on first appearances and this should always be remembered as a vital part to having a good relationship between practitioner and patient. Sign language is an important part of non verbal communication as you may come across patients who are deaf or may be hard of hearing this immediately will affect your communication as you cannot sign in a tone so your facial expressions need to convey how you are feeling. You may need to bring in a third party which will also affect your relationship as you will always have to go through this third party making it less confidential. It is also important when looking at non verbal communication to consider the patient’s non verbal communication as well as your own. Nurses need to gauge whether a conversation is wanted by a patient by asking simple questions and watching their body language and seeing if it is appropriate to sit down. Some patients might not want the conversation but simply the comfort of knowing someone is there with them. ( Jenifer Wilson Barnett, 1981)
Good communication is vital to all relationships in clinical areas like patient/pactioner, practitioner to practitioner etc. A lot of barriers can affect this and practitioners should always be aware of these and try and avoid them. For example when you are talking to a patient you should always try and avoid jargon that they will not understand, this may lead to them feeling confused and some patients might not want to ask what is meant by it so they may unaware of what is happening. Which is very bad practise because the patient should always be made to feel at ease. It could also lead to misinterpretation which could leave the patient thinking something is much worse than it is or that something has gotten better when in fact this may not be the case. Other barriers include a lack of time to spend with patients maybe building up a relationship or having the time to talk to them at full length of new information to do with their health. Trained staff frequently complain about the pressure of administrative and paper work. ( Jenifer Wilson Barnett, 1981) Also interruptions, some wards can be very busy and cause a lot of interruptions. On my placement the ward was very busy and it was only staffed by two registered nurses this lead them to be needed a lot of the time and leading to many interruptions from them dealing with patients, talking to relatives or talking to people on the phone. This can affect relationships dramatically if not managed properly.
To conclude good communication is vital to healthy relationship between practitioner and patient because it offsets how effectively the patient’s time in a clinical area will be. All the evidence found shows that patients can be affected physiologically by bad communication. It makes them feel anxious and at unease and when in a clinical area when we need the patient to feel comfortable and at ease to achieve their health status back to the norm. To develop a good relationship with a patient is a vital part of helping them to get better and this can only be achieved when both parties are good at communicating and have a basic understanding the importance of good communication.