There are many different aspects to being a ‘good nurse’, but there are six core principles of nursing which have emerged through progression of the nursing profession, (DoH 2012). The core principles were brought in as a result of issues raised within the National Health Service (NHS) and have been identified as caring and compassion; dignity; communication; professionalism; emotional intelligence and the nurse-patient relationship. The three principles I have chosen to analyse are communication, dignity and nurse-patient relationship because it is my belief that when a nurse lacks awareness of these, they will also lack the ability to be a successful nurse. From my own research and experience, these three principles are the ones I noticed the most, particularly when considering the experience I will be talking about in my reflective section. Although these principles are essential for being a ‘good nurse’, ensuring that you promote the health and wellbeing of patients, and providing support sufficient to encourage independence are also vital in caring for patients.
Communication:
Communication, according to Oxford Dictionary, is the disclosing and exchanging of information by verbal communication, non-verbal communication or using some other medium. However, when looking at what communication means within the nursing profession, it is much more complex in order to meet the needs of patients and their families.
Patient experience can be strongly affected by the way in which nurses and care staff communicate with them. Communication, as described by Benbow and Jordan (2013), is a two-way process of reaching mutual understanding, in which participants not only exchange information, but also create and share meaning. As nurses, we need to constantly send messages to our patients, their families and our colleagues. We can do this by the way we present ourselves (Burnard and Gill, 2008). There are many different ways in which we can communicate with