Role of communication in Nursing

It presents the definitions of communication and advantages of having effective communication in nursing. It also relates a number of theoretical approaches that are fundamental in empowering change among nurses’ communication. Importantly, this paper allows the reader to understand the numerous challenges that are present in communication. Based on these challenges, the paper provides claims on why effective communication is essential. Introduction Recent research indicates that while healthcare professionals are constantly improving as team players, collaborations and service provision, effective communication is still considered to be a persistent problem (Weitz 167). Supporting this study, a survey conducted by CRICO indicates that due to communication failures at least 1,744 patients have died in the past five years and this cost healthcare centers a tune of $1.

7 billion as compensation for malpractice (Weitz 12). Also, CDC estimates that each day, out of 25 patients at least one have an infection which they contacted in the hospital. Therefore, is it worth to assume the essence of communication and persist in making great losses of lives and money? Effective communication is considered by the University of California to be a major contributor of proper healthcare. This study claims that at least a quarter of the readmissions in hospitals can be avoided by facilitating better communication among health care providers and patients. In this case, the paper will highlight existing communication channels as emergency call bells rather alarms that are used to trigger responses by patients in case they are in danger. There are several channels of communication that are used in hospital thus not limited to alarms.

For instance, some hospitals consider using pagers to facilitate communication between the nurses and doctors. Notably, both definitions have exhibited the need of having a two-way process where both the sender and receiver understand each other. This among other issues will be discussed in the next section as some of the major hindrances for effective communication between the nurses and patients as well as entire hospital administration. This myopic analysis of events can affect both the nurse and patients. Having such limitations can affect a nurse’s judgment on patient’s conditions. Probably, it can lead to assumption and ignorance of some conditions that might later results into serious problems for both the hospital and patients. On the other hand, patient might assume their medications and lose faith in the efforts of nurses handling them due to their predetermined filters.

This challenge relates to the selective perception which refers to the “tendency of either ‘under notice’ or ‘over focus on’ stimuli that cause emotional discomfort or contradict prior belief” (Burks, Derek and Amy 320). For instance, a patient can feel stressed or over anxious but expressing concern to them can be interpreted as criticism. As a result, patients can think that nurses are launching personal attacks and taking advantage of their emotional fragility. In such a situation nurses are required to understand the possible outcomes and perhaps postpone communication in the event there is a chance patients will misinterpret information. A final challenge that can be experienced in the healthcare context is semantics. Cournoyer (12) notes that, semantics is “the study of the meaning of words and phrases”.

The existing forms of communication such as verbal and non-verbal need to be fostered in the healthcare setting. They are imperative in the routine activities of hospital thus enforcing the need to impact nurses with the best practices so that they can maximize such potentials and develop strong relations with their patients and co-workers. Although these skills are utilized mostly in the day to day activities with patients, they are not limited to routine events. Practitioners need to understand the various strategies of professional communication in order to forge better practices that will meet the health and social obligations of the healthcare centers. There are also varieties of communication approaches which can be tailored by practitioners to facilitate their efforts to offer better services to patients.

While some of the social theories are strictly scientific and objective, a section of existing conflict theories present normative aspects. The social theory is widely complemented by the cognitive framework in recognition and offering of services to patients. The combination is helpful in assessing the impact of social factors to a person for instance those suffering from autism. Effective communication in this case is influenced by these frameworks as the nurse understands the kind of treatment that can be tailored for a particular patient (Speziale, Helen Streubert, Helen J. Streubert, and Dona 217). They are not sure of what they are suffering from. Such anxiety can lead to misinterpretation or selective perception making patients become protective to themselves. Some patients might not want to continue with the tests or treatment.

The response to what the future holds to them depends on how the nurse will handle them. For instance, a number of cases have been recorded in the USA where patients acted aggressively and rudely to nurses. It is important for the nurse to let patients feel in control while interrogating or discussing with them. This can only be achieved through effective communication. There is a sense in which patients feel that they are not in total control of their lives while in the hospital. Majority have expressed their hate for hospital because it doesn’t give them the freedom they have compared to when they are nursed in their homes. The environment and people around the hospital are sufficient controls that put off patients.

Another role of communication in nursing is to make patients feel that despite their conditions they are still valuable. Most of the time patients tend to think that because of their situations they are no longer important. For instance patients who suffer from long term diseases such as cancer are likely to feel invaluable. They might be frustrated and feel anxious about death. Such patient need to be shown love and given appropriate attention. Such patients might not show resilience to adjust their sleep time, meals and exercises. Communication allows patients to have customized care. The patients are given sufficient attention by the nurses as they analyze issue surrounding the patients. This is an important process that nurses need to conduct because it established a notion about the patient which might be relevant in their recovery.

Therefore, communication in this plays a great role in ensuring that nurse take time to understanding the unique issues and challenges that patients are experiencing. In addition, due to effective communication they easily coordinate with each other thus minimizing chances of error while administering care to patients. This fulfilment further results to morale as nurses are motivated to offer great care to their patients. Without good communication, nurses might not thrive in such poor working conditions and this can affect their services. As a result, poor communication might lead to high employee turnover rate and increasing stress levels among nurses. The outcome is low morale and lack of satisfactions which based on organizational behavior theories can lead to so many organizational challenges.

They should be conversant with the various methods of communication such as calls and in person communication. Such skills will help the nurse to attend to client both in and out of their reach. Conclusion As illustrated in this paper, the role of communication is fundamental in nursing. This has been portrayed through studies, experiences and data from existing sources. A discussion of the various communication challenges has been addressed to portray why effective communication is essential to nurses. Additionally, there are legal issues that pertain to communication such as privacy of patient records. With such changes in mind, healthcare centers should strive to have communication strategies that will impact their clients, community and employees. Work cited Brook Larios. Nurses, communication and patient safety.