Effective Communication in Nursing: 12 Essential Skills for Better Patient Care
In an arduous field like healthcare, technical competency might not meet the nursing establishments’ high expectations. Other than the clinical skills, the key need of the day should be developing strong soft skills for improved communication to offer standard care of the patient and also develop the right collaborations with healthcare teams. Nurses within the healthcare setting collaborate with co-workers, patients, and family members, thus, communication represents a fundamental concept in their job.
Though training is much given on the technical side of nursing, soft skills like communicating become equally highly valued for any kind of progression or development in private training. Enhanced continuously as a result of continuous professional development, experience on the job, or formal education, soft skills are harnessed to the particular needs of the time. This paper unpacks communication in nursing and promotes 12 crucial communication skills for the little things nurses consider home.
Why Communication Is Crucial in Nursing?
It also means essential, not just something because it is nice to have. Effective communication in nursing is like some holy grail, or it is the Holy Grail because, through it, health care workers make the difference in excellent care, and better outcomes are made for patients. American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) stated, “Effective communication is foundational to a healthy work environment for nurses”. According to them, communication may save a life. The above first recorded lines provide the fact that:
Nurse-to-Patient Communication: It goes without being said that nurse communication is one of the most important elements of nursing care. It would keep a condition triage at the emergency room since they would put the patient in logical perspective with the doctors who refer them to the rounds to follow. Any plan developed by the doctor can be implemented, including physical examination findings, history, and laboratory reports, alongside the nurse’s initial facility assessment.
Interprofessional Communication: It requires effective communication with colleagues. Whenever it comes to documenting patient information on the electronic health record or discussing care plans during team meetings, the importance of clear communication cannot be understated. This then directly translates into prompt interventions and the most efficient delivery of care.
12 Communication Skills That Every Nurse Needs
Nursing requires that one become good at communication while at the same time keeping on improving their communication skills. Below are twelve basic communication skills which every nurse should have:
Writing nurses
The nurse should write his/her progress note in the ward, clinic, or home setting. Systematic record-keeping helps ensure that all pertinent facts are kept in one place; avoid ambiguity; and, at the same time, clearly identify aspects of care, drug administration, or various interventions.
Oratory: A Kind of Trick
Let us envision the stance of visiting nurses may take. Everything should be explained — the conditions of the residents, diseases they may suffer from, and the advancements and options available to nurses. Otherwise, you may risk confusing the groups.
Disembodied Allusions
Several examples of nonverbal communication include body language, facial expressions, and different hand movements. Incredibly important are the ways in which nonverbal cues express empathy and reassurance or mistranslate such expressions to confusion signs or discomfort. Handshake and eye contact are simple yet effective ways to help the patient become comfortable.
An individual being technology savvy in today’s time indeed is beneficial to them, especially as a nurse where their interaction with the patient is mostly through the use of technology in any form-in the form of the EHRs, taking care of the drug inboxes, and even the consultation with the telehealth for patient treatment quite practically and effectively increased overall healthcare communications.
Active Listening
Active listening is one important thing in a nurse’s routine for work. Imagine during nursing when healthcare professionals are present during the patient’s speaking, representation of the point of their speech, while listening simultaneously trying to perceive the connoted meaning of the patient’s emotions and meanings in such an event. Such attention to listening usually helps nurses gather good-enough impressions and directly address the issue de jure.
Compassion
Using compassion helps foster caring relationships with the patient. A warm behavior tends to open up patients: in their sharing of important details concerning their health, patients start becoming safe with the nurse because they feels such secured trusting in the relationship created with the nurse.
Education of the Patient
Educating patients about their health condition and treatment plan is one of the responsibilities of the nursing staff. Explaination clear enough to make the patient understand things can make the patients decide about their health-care participation vs. nonparticipation in a manner that meets their comfort level.
Building Relationships
It is understood how vital the strong bond between the nurse and the patient is. It maintains every communication and trust that emanates with respect for the patient and understanding and communication by the nurse.
Presentation Capabilities
Nurses usually do not give a speech every day but they are required to present information to the audience occasionally or during patient teaching. Clear, concise, and well-organized presentations help convey important information that can make teamwork better.
Canonical Inspection
Interaction to differentiate the characteristic among cultures becomes an essence factor in the contemporary comprehensive healthcare environment. Nurses who are culturally aware are able to communicate better with patients from various backgrounds in an effective way. It ensures the care provided to be more respected, personalized, and effective.
Trust Building
In every good relationship, trust is vital, especially in the field of nursing. This will eventually materialize into good communication, good reporting, and an excellent alliance between patients and nurses. Next, with the help of good trust, patients can share anything with nurses about their health and in return the care be provided better as well as better health outcomes.
Conflict Resolving
Conflict is a common phenomenon in all places of work including healthcare settings. However, for nurses, this skill will help them manage such misunderstandings professionally, particularly when the health care of the patient is at stake.
Overcoming Barriers to Communication in Nursing
Creating effective communication in nursing does not tend to happen by default. There may be different types of barriers hindering effective communication, be that from time constraints to misunderstandings. In order to overcome these challenges, nurses can take some proactive steps:
Identify the fundamental reason for any problem in communication.
Listen very actively to all those concerned if you want to know what the core of that issue is.
Seek feedback on your manner of communication, and ensure you are able to modify it.
Carry out work involving conflict resolution so as to tackle any problems that may arise from interpersonal ones.
How Health Care Organizations Can Help Communication Skills
Healthcare organizations contribute greatly to the enhancement of communication skills in nurses. They invest in training and professional development that particularly includes interpersonal communication skills that reduces errors, increase patient satisfaction and results in a positive work environment.
Furthermore, fine-tune the communication with Purdue Global: In order to set the cornerstone for excellence in patient care, continuing training in obtaining highly relevant skills in nursing can guarantee the best care possible provided by a nurse. In addition, it also enables interaction with one’s team in an effective and efficient way.