Communication

It is imperative to establish a good nurse-patient relationship so that the nurse can build up a relationship of trust, confidence and reliability with a patient.

The nurse must be able to be friendly and approachable from the first point of contact with a patient to maintain their professionalism and competence.

As nurse's we will have to attain consent before caring out any care or treatment on a patient, it is therefore vital for a patient to know they can trust and rely on the nurse. This will enable the patient to cultivate a confidence in the nurse and show that the nurse is trustworthy and capable of building a relationship with good communication skills.

It is extremely important to treat patients with respect and as individual's.

It is an everyday task for the professional nurse to create good relations in her caring. To reach that goal, time and closeness is needed with the patient. Today as the health organisation is constantly and rapidly changing, the nurse can come up against obstacles that may prevent the nurse from creating a good relationship with the patient. Nevertheless without a good relationship we would not be able to meet our patients needs or communicate with them. Nursing, by definition, takes place in the presence of others and can be viewed as essentially an interpersonal process (Peplau 1988)

Keith shows in the case study how to help build a good relationship with a patient. When Donald was admitted to the orthopaedic ward the staff nurse Keith looked after him. He offered comfort to Donald knowing that he was anguished with the ordeal of his accident and being in hospital, and attempted to calm him down. Keith took the time to explain the admissions procedure to Donald before carrying out a general assessment of his condition. Keith showed reliability and comforted Donald by being with him as much as he possibly could throughout his stay in hospital.

Keith shows empathy and compassion towards Donald and his family, he observes Donald's body language and recognises he is in pain, he therefore offers him pain relief to help ease his discomfort.

It has been stated that Human beings have a basic drive to relate to one another, which is expressed through communication. When two or more people are together they cannot help but communicate (Watzlawick et al. 2003:255). Without communication between the nurse and patient information would not be able to be transmitted to each other. Therefore Communication is vital in establishing a good nurse-patient relationship.

I would argue that this statement is true because without communication we would not be able as nurse's to be successful in the promotion of good health.

A verbal skill we posses is being able to relate to people. A nurse should be able to communicate in a language that a patient can understand. The patient may speak with a different accent, in a different dialect or another language therefore it is important to speak clearly and at a steady pace. As nurse's we will come into contact with patients who cannot speak or have a disability, therefore the tone, volume and clarity of our voice is also important as it could indicate mixed signals to a patient who does not understand us.

Another verbal skill we have is being able to ask and be asked questions and seek advice if we are unsure. If we are asked a question regarding the patients injury or illness we must be specific and not offer false hope. At times we will be asked to express an opinion or view and we should be able to do this in certain circumstances where appropriate. We might be faced with confrontation from patients and we should not shy away from it but instead deal with it and try to defuse the situation.

Being able to hold a conversation and interact with a patient is very important. It is observed You must be able to understand others, be understood by others, and gain others trust to get the facts required for sound reasoning (Alfaro - Lefevre 2004:32). If a patient wanted to confide in us, we must be able to participate back in conversation without judging or analysing the patient. It shows we can have social interaction and offer counselling where appropriate.

A patient may want to discuss how they're feeling or discuss diagnosis, prognosis or treatment. These skills identify with our ability to share knowledge and pass on information. As health promoters we can help to explain and educate our patients using no jargon or slang, as this would only confuse them.

We can identify these skills by referring to the case study.

Keith shows us that he possesses these skills and has the ability to use them.

When Donald was admitted to hospital he was distressed and disorientated. Keith used both his verbal and non-verbal skills to help calm Donald down. He listened to Donald's worries and concerns and Keith used his knowledge to pass on information to Donald regarding his injury an explained the operation to him.

Keith ensured he was not talking to Donald in medical terminology, instead he spoke to Donald in words he could understand.

It is important for a nurse not to speak to a patient in medical terminology, as they may not understand you, it might make them feel intimidated or scared to ask questions regarding their injury or illness. Ultimately it could result in a breakdown in the relationship.

Keith gained Donald's trust by reassuring him that he would only be in hospital until he was fit enough to go home.

Other communication skills we must possess are self-awareness and self esteem. As a nurse we must be able to feel comfortable within ourselves and be able to show emotional responses.

We have to be able to show respect towards patients we come into contact with and this is through verbal and non-verbal expose skills.

Nurses have to have a caring nature to be able to provide help and comfort to a patient. To be able to show warmth, genuiness and be able to offer comfort so that a patient feels comfortable with us and trusts us with any confidential matter they would like to confide in us.

Non verbal skills that can help us to communicate are our body language. Body language includes everything from our facial expressions to our posture to eye contact.

Hogston and Simpson (2002:351) observe that body language should convey the message that you are listening with interest to a client

We can tell a lot from body language, facial expressions can show