Nursing Chapter 24: Communication

Communication in Nursing Practice

• Communication is a lifelong learning process that maintains effective relationships within the entire sphere of professional practice and meets legal, ethical, and clinical standards of care.
• Caring relationships are at the core of nursing, and being able to relate to others is important for interpersonal communication.
• Therapeutic communication occurs within a healing relationship between a nurse and patient.

Developing Communication Skills

• Nurses who develop critical thinking skills and clinical judgment make the best communicators.
• Critical thinking applied during any patient interaction helps to overcome perceptual biases or stereotypes that interfere with accurately perceiving and interpreting messages from others.

Levels of Communication

• Intrapersonal
• Interpersonal
• Small-group communication
• Public communication
• Electronic communication

Elements of the Communication Process

• Circular transactional model
• Referent
• Sender and receiver
• Message
• Channels
• Feedback
• Interpersonal values
• Environment

Forms of Communication

• Verbal communication:
  • Vocabulary
  • Denotative and connotative meaning
  • Pacing
  • Intonation
  • Clarity and brevity
  • Timing and relevance
• Nonverbal communication:
  • Personal appearance
  • Posture and gait
  • Facial expression
  • Eye contact
  • Gestures
  • Sounds
  • Territoriality and personal space
  • Metacommunication

Professional Nursing Relationships

• Nurse-patient caring relationships
• Motivational interviewing
• Nurse-family relationships
• Nurse-health care team relationships
• Lateral violence
• Nurse-community relationships

Elements of Professional Communication

• Courtesy
• Use of names
• Trustworthiness
• Autonomy and responsibility
• Assertiveness

Nursing Process

• Assessment:
  • Through the patient’s eyes
  • Environmental factors
  • Physical and emotional factors
  • Gender
  • Developmental factors
• Analysis and nursing diagnosis
• Planning and outcomes identification:
  • Outcomes
  • Setting priorities
  • Teamwork and collaboration

Therapeutic Communication Techniques

• Active listening
• Clarifying
• Sharing observations
• Focusing
• Sharing empathy
• Paraphrasing
• Sharing hope
• Validation
• Sharing humor
• Asking relevant questions
• Sharing feelings
• Summarizing
• Using touch
• Using silence
• Providing information
• Self-disclosure
• Confrontation

Nontherapeutic Communication Techniques

• Asking personal questions
• Giving personal opinions
• Changing the subject
• Automatic responses
• Defensive responses
• False reassurance
• Sympathy
• Arguing

Special Communication Considerations

• Sociocultural considerations:
  • Culture influences thinking, feeling, behaving, and communicating.
• Speech and language considerations:
  • Use appropriate interventions based on patient needs to adapt your communication techniques.

Evaluation

• Through the patient’s eyes
• Patient outcomes:
  • If expected outcomes for the patient’s plan of care are not met or if progress is unsatisfactory, you determine which factors influenced the outcomes and modify the plan of care.

Communication in Nursing Practice

• Communication is a lifelong learning process that maintains effective relationships within the entire sphere of professional practice and meets legal, ethical, and clinical standards of care.
• Caring relationships are at the core of nursing, and being able to relate to others is important for interpersonal communication.
• Therapeutic communication occurs within a healing relationship between a nurse and patient.

Developing Communication Skills

• Nurses who develop critical thinking skills and clinical judgment make the best communicators.
• Critical thinking applied during any patient interaction helps to overcome perceptual biases or stereotypes that interfere with accurately perceiving and interpreting messages from others.

Levels of Communication

• Intrapersonal
• Interpersonal
• Small-group communication
• Public communication
• Electronic communication

Elements of the Communication Process

• Circular transactional model
• Referent
• Sender and receiver
• Message
• Channels
• Feedback
• Interpersonal values
• Environment

Forms of Communication

• Verbal communication:
  • Vocabulary
  • Denotative and connotative meaning
  • Pacing
  • Intonation
  • Clarity and brevity
  • Timing and relevance
• Nonverbal communication:
  • Personal appearance
  • Posture and gait
  • Facial expression
  • Eye contact
  • Gestures
  • Sounds
  • Territoriality and personal space
  • Metacommunication

Professional Nursing Relationships

• Nurse-patient caring relationships
• Motivational interviewing
• Nurse-family relationships
• Nurse-health care team relationships
• Lateral violence
• Nurse-community relationships

Elements of Professional Communication

• Courtesy
• Use of names
• Trustworthiness
• Autonomy and responsibility
• Assertiveness

Nursing Process

• Assessment:
  • Through the patient’s eyes
  • Environmental factors
  • Physical and emotional factors
  • Gender
  • Developmental factors
• Analysis and nursing diagnosis
• Planning and outcomes identification:
  • Outcomes
  • Setting priorities
  • Teamwork and collaboration

Therapeutic Communication Techniques

• Active listening
• Clarifying
• Sharing observations
• Focusing
• Sharing empathy
• Paraphrasing
• Sharing hope
• Validation
• Sharing humor
• Asking relevant questions
• Sharing feelings
• Summarizing
• Using touch
• Using silence
• Providing information
• Self-disclosure
• Confrontation

Nontherapeutic Communication Techniques

• Asking personal questions
• Giving personal opinions
• Changing the subject
• Automatic responses
• Defensive responses
• False reassurance
• Sympathy
• Arguing

Special Communication Considerations

• Sociocultural considerations:
  • Culture influences thinking, feeling, behaving, and communicating.
• Speech and language considerations:
  • Use appropriate interventions based on patient needs to adapt your communication techniques.

Evaluation

• Through the patient’s eyes
• Patient outcomes:
  • If expected outcomes for the patient’s plan of care are not met or if progress is unsatisfactory, you determine which factors influenced the outcomes and modify the plan of care.

This quiz covers the fundamentals of communication in nursing practice, including its importance in maintaining effective relationships and meeting legal, ethical, and clinical requirements.