In The World Today, There Are Many Jobs/Career To Choose

Communication is one of the basic survival skills of human and also a fundamental part of nursing. Effective communication would help to promote a positive nurse-client relationship which is crucial for the delivery of quality nursing care (Sheppard, 1993; McCabe 2003).

Communication is usually taken for granted in our every day to day living as we use it without thought. Good communication skills are needed in the workplace and especially with nursing staff to and from patients when giving first hand care. Good or bad communication can make there experience within the health care setting a positive or negative one and can leave a lasting impression. A good health care provider can use there communication skills to put a patient at ease with a few comforting words or gestures, a lack of positive communication in the health care setting could leave the patient feeling neglected, ignored and not valued as a patient.

Communication involves information being sent, received and decoded between two or more people (Balzer-Riley 2008) and involves the use of a number of communication skills; which in a nursing context generally focuses on listening and giving information to patients (Weller 2002). This process of sending and receiving messages has been described as both simple and complex (Rosengren 2000 in McCabe 2006, p.4). It is a process which is continually utilised by nurses to convey and receive information from the patient, co-workers, others they come into contact with and the patient’s family.

McCabe C. (2004) Nurse-patient communication: an exploration of patients’ experiences. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 13, 41-49.

Missed or ineffective communication can have severe consequences to the life of a patient. A patient’s clinical condition can deteriorate very quickly and the ability to communicate nursing assessment data rapidly and in a way that will be effectively received can

A discourse community is defined as a group of individuals who share a common purpose and use different forms of communication to pursue these goals (John Swales). In order for a discourse community to be considered as such it must have certain characteristics including communication, goals, lexis, etc. A community that I have been analyzing is the nursing career field. To analyze this community I interviewed a nurse named Deborah Henderson and some may recognize her as an academic advisor for the college of education and health professions and I was able to obtain an example of a literature this discourse reads. Using research that I have conducted and using the characteristics of a discourse community we can determine if nursing can be considered as a discourse community.

Communication is any form of expressing and receiving of messages between individuals. The importance of Communication in the nursing profession is to maintain high quality care for the patient but also maintain effective collaboration between professionals. Boykins, D (2014) states that the “registered nurse is expected to communicate in various formats and in all areas of practice”. Various formats include speaking to patients and coworkers as well as utilizing appropriate protocols and systems to effectively communicate regards to patient’s status.

This essay will highlight one of the key concepts of nursing .The concept that will be discussed in this essay will be communication, the reason for this chosen concept is that communication plays a vital role in everyday occurrences which defines how a situation is perceived by yourself, others and how communication is effectively handled . There will be a definition on what communication is also an evaluation of the chosen concept will be explored throughout this essay.

As a nurse, communication is an essential and important factor to building a therapeutic relationship between a nurse and patient as it is the difference between average and excellent nursing care, as it helps maintain a good quality of life and allows nurses’ and patients to interact and provide comfort when needed. The importance of good communication can become apparent with patients especially when they are in the hospital, as it helps the nurses build a positive relationship with patients and helps overcome barriers including physical, psychological and social. A therapeutic relationship is built on many factors which include both verbal and non-verbal communication which helps maintains the relationship and strengthens it due to the positive impact it has not only on the patient’s experience but also the nurse’s.

Language and behavior. In any profession, there is specific language that goes along with it. A nurse’s terminology is made up of mostly medical terms that are a person’s anatomy and physiological make up, medications, diseases, procedures etc. To be an effective communicator in this profession being up to date on medical terminology is a must. This is called the standardized language of medicine. “When everyone understands what a condition, medicine, or procedure is, they are able to fulfill their roles accordingly, whether that is delivering medicine or billing for a medicine” (PCC Institute of Health Professionals, 2017). Along with language expectations, there are ways a nurse is expected to carry themselves. Patients expect their nurses to be compassionate, keep them informed, and have good bedside manner. This means

It’s good to know that they have specific ways of communicating with each other. Mainly because, you know that the doctors and nurses understand well what they learned and apply it to any medical situation. It can also be a bad thing because we may not understand what they are talking about or what they are saying to us. In the essay “Your Basic LoL in N.A.D”, a nurse in training has trouble understanding at first many medical terms, but begins to learn after a while. If the nurses can’t understand clearly many terms, most likely we won’t understand them either. On page one-hundred in the essay I mentioned above, the nurse in training ask for a patient named Mrs. Melville and they tell her, “Oh, she boxed last night”, which means that she died.

Each nurse also has specific ideas or beliefs about what information should be communicated during a verbal report. Valuable information may not be provided or may be forgotten (Casey & Wallis, 2011). Writing information down may help a nurse recall the data later, but if there is no consistent format for recording the information, it may be lost regardless. Interruptions, distractions, and the frequency of communications also may negatively effect the communication process and contribute to a nurse forgetting to share important information (Cacolice-Hildebrand, 2008). Active listening, which involves reflecting back a meaningful understanding of one’s message, is one of the most important skills in effective communication.

Norma Lang once said, “If we cannot name it, we cannot control it, practice it, teach it, finance it, or put it into public policy .” This means that everything has a name for the means of communication . As a child, whenever I went to the doctors I noticed all the doctors and nurses used words that I never understood and I would always ask what they meant. Now, as an adult, I am asking why they use them. Standardized nursing language is important because it makes for efficient communication.

Nurses must assess a patient’s communication needs with respect to their age, gender, culture, developmental status and be able to modify their care related to these needs. This also is a consideration when communicating with those around us daily.

Effective communication is of tantamount importance in the scope of a successful nursing practice. It depends heavily upon both verbal and non-verbal methods (AJN). It is inclusive of both behavioral and speech components. Being efficient in both delivering and receiving messages between the nurse and the patient helps initiate and maintain a healthy relationship. Employing both verbal and non-verbal communication between the nurse and the patient will help ensure that the relationship they share remains satisfying to both parties.