NURS 1004 : Communication And Professional Nursing

Communication is an important aspect of healthcare as it helps the nurse to understand the patents experience about healthcare interventions applied to improve his/her health condition (Alligood, 2017). In this assignment I will be reflecting on one such effective communication which I evolved after applying it to several situations.

This communication experience was with a 65 year old Greek patient Jake, who was admitted to hospital after having severe pain in his lower abdomen, with bloating. He was identified with irritable bowel syndrome and while informing this to his wife Maria, I used the communication theory of Lasswell, which is also known as the theory of five W’s (Vangelisti, Daly & Friedrich, 2013). I informed her that his patient is suffering from IBS as well as anxiety, which made her tensed. However, with this clear message, I modified the communication theory by assuring her that quality care and proper medication will improve her husband’s health condition (Dougherty & Lister, 2015). Which provided her relief and she started trusting on the healthcare process by providing her complete support. Hence, the communication process was effective and successful.

From the undergraduate nursing degree, three primary style of communication I have witnessed, which has helped to overcome any adverse situation or respond to any good or neutral situation. These are personal relationships, active listening and nonverbal communication. In the complex nursing work culture, it is very important to develop a nursing communication skills as communication is a process which cannot follow a bound path (Alligood, 2017). Therefore I also developed a communication style in which I try to listen to people first and then help them to grasp the knowledge through my understanding. The primary influence for this evolution was complex patient situations, in which patient as well as their family member were not being able to understand the verbal communication process. Hence, dealing with such situation helped me to understand the primary concerns and then with sign language, body gestures and other form of non-verbal communication I try to educate my patient and their family about their health condition (Arnold & Boggs, 2015).

This above-mentioned situation described that situations faced in healthcare facility helped me to influence my own communication style depending on the theories and concepts of communication I have learned on my undergraduate course.

References:

Alligood, M. R. (2017). Nursing Theorists and Their Work-E-Book, 9^th edition, pp. 65-78, Elsevier Health Sciences.

Arnold, E. C., & Boggs, K. U. (2015). Interpersonal Relationships-E-Book: Professional Communication Skills for Nurses. 7^th edn, pp. 125-145, Elsevier Health Sciences.

Dougherty, L., & Lister, S. (Eds.). (2015). The Royal Marsden manual of clinical nursing procedures, 9^th edn, pp. 34-156, John Wiley & Sons.

Vangelisti, A. L., Daly, J. A., & Friedrich, G. W. (2013). Teaching communication: Theory, research, and methods, 6^th edn, pp. 23-98, Routledge.