On The 4 December 2012 A Strategy And Vision Was Created

Professional communication as defined by Crisp, Taylor, Douglas & Rebeiro, 2013, p194 includes the spoken and non-verbal forms of communication. When a nurse doesn’t communicate professionally with the patients, patients family and healthcare workers this can have an impact on the patients’ care, the nurses and the health outcomes for the patient (Robinson, F.P, 2010, p206). Unprofessional communication comes in the form of an unfriendly tone of voice, interrupting the patient when they are speaking or asking questions (Kourkouta & Papathanasiou, 2014 p66). Both of these are spoken forms of communication. Nonverbal cues are primarily about facial expressions. Interrupting and speaking

The NHS have 6 core nursing values, launched by England’s chief nursing officer, Jane Cummings, after the Mid-Staffordshire disaster. These 6C’s were put into place to reinforce holistic nursing (Delves-Yates, C. 2015), ensure that everybody within the National Health Service is doing everything possible to ensure the best possible service for the patients, and to ensure that patients were put at the heart of everything healthcare professionals do (Watterson, L. 2013). The 6 C’s include care, compassion, competence, commitment, courage and communication. All six of the 6C’S are all fundamental values when it comes to healthcare, however out of these six, the three that I have chosen to write about are communication, compassion and courage. I have chosen these three as I believe that they are the most imperative when it comes to delivering high-quality care for the patients or service users.

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 the exchange of messages and is a process which all individuals participate in. Whether it is through spoken word, written word, non-verbal means or even silence, messages are constantly being exchanged between individuals or groups of people (Bach & Grant 2009). All behaviour has a message and communication is a process which individuals cannot avoid being involved with (Ellis et al 1995).

Compassionate care is a big talking point right now in the media and within the healthcare sector with the Francis report being published earlier this year regarding the failings by Mid Staffordshire and Scotland are now waiting for their own report to be issued regarding the failings at the Vale of Leven in Dumbarton. The nursing and midwifery council have already started on some the imperative changes to be made that the Francis report issued. The chief executive of the nursing and midwifery council has said in her executive statement regarding the Francis report that they are to re-examine the current teaching that nurses receive and the professional standards. Smith, J. (Nursing and Midwifery Council) all of these failings are all relate d to compassionate care. The people who died in these hospitals were clearly not heard when they complained of feeling unwell and did not receive compassionate care so why was this? Next to be discussed is compassion fatigue and how this may reflect onto nursing practice in providing sufficient compassion.

others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it.” My precept is that it lies at the heart of all

This essay covers the Key concepts of care. In 2013 the Francis report highlighted the need for student nurses to test and experience their values and levels of care and compassion, and whilst it is seen that the failures highlighted in the report go further than a lost compassion of nursing, this exercise is to look at the key concepts of care and the principles of the 6 Cs (Care, Compassion, Courage, Communication, Competence and Commitment) which have been identified as fundamental values, although not the only ones as nurses have other core values such as organisational, professional and NHS values to work to. I have selected one of the 6 Cs (communication) for a more detailed description from which I will then provide as requested in my brief an example specific to its application in a particular service. The area I have selected to apply this to, is Dementia.

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.

Compassion represents an “acknowledgement of another’s suffering and is accompanied by the expression of a desire to ease or end that suffering.” (Van der Cingal, 2009, p. 124) This is a fundamental characteristic usually found in health care workers and nurses especially. In one twelve hour shift, a nurse’s job can change from taking vitals and administering medications to performing life saving measures

To observe the trust values as a trainee assistant practitioner the six fundamental values I need to maintain in mind are Care, Compassion, Communication, Competence, Commitment, and Courage. NHS Commissioning Board (2012), the 6Cs were developed in 2012 as part of compassion in practice. The 6Cs encapsulate the values and behaviors of the essence to the legal transfer of high quality, compassionate care Beal, J (2014). Care is core business and that of our organisations and the care we deliver helps the individual person and improves the health of the whole community. WUTH (2012) Caring defines us and our work. A person receiving care expects it to be right for them, consistently, throughout every stage of their life Beal, J (2014). Compassion is how care is given through relationships based on empathy, respect and dignity. I believe that nursing is an occupation consisting of professional individuals that exhibit and express

The results were clearly related to the introduction and the authors found support for their hypothesis that compassion training would benefit health care workers. However, the study did have numerous shortcomings. The study sample was extremely small, and the participants worked in the same location and area of the hospital. This raises the question of if the results would be the same with a larger sample or in a different area of the country. An additional option for further research is to examine if the training would receive similar results in another area of the hospital, for example with employees in NICU. The study was also performed in a relatively short timeline with the follow-up being completed 9 months after training. How long will the impacts continue, and what on-going methods are necessary to continue battling compassion fatigue? Although the authors acknowledge that further exploration is necessary, they do not address any of these questions. In spite of these shortcomings, it was overall a strong paper and after further research the training referenced may be utilized to assist caregivers with compassion

In a Nursing Standard (2013) article one student reports that by seeing the delivery of good care by their peers gives student nurses an opportunity to appreciate the value of the 6C’s which could create a passion to adopt them in their own working methods.

The aims and objectives were clearly laid out, both in the abstract and within the article itself without being too extensive, using clear and easily understood language to outline the research goals as well as setting out why the study was needed. This was placed within the background section of the article. Also the article was granted publication by the Journal of Clinical Nursing (JCN) in November 2013. The publication coincided with the release of the Francis Inquiry report in February of the same year. This demonstrates the relevance of the research done and the subsequent publication at the time. The use of this report to ‘inform the design of a compassion related toolkit’ was stated within the article introduction. The Author’s credentials were also present within the first page of the article, as was a clearly laid out abstract adding to the validity of the article; as Metcalfe (2003) states ‘it is necessary to establish whether or not the authors are to be treated as experts and to determine their area of expertise. If their expertise is not established, their opinion may not be convincing’.

Compassion is more than just relieving a patient’s suffering but is an essence to enter a patient’s experience and therefore helps to achieve the best optimal holistic care (Von Dietze & Orb, 2000). According to Dewar (2011) in her statement during the 2010 Royal College of Nursing Conference, compassion is how we can relate to our patients, which includes acknowledging

The importance of compassion in care is highlighted in a number of recent healthcare documents (Health Service Ombudsman, 2011 and Department of Health (DH), 2012). Research evidence suggests adult patients who are treated by a compassionate caregiver tend to share more information regarding their symptoms and concerns, which in turn yields more accurate understanding, diagnosis and treatment (Epstein et al., 2005). Compassionate care is also thought to have significant beneficial physiological effects in influencing the brain, metabolism, cardiovascular and respiratory systems (Cole-King and Gilbert,