Nurse Patient Communication

Why is good communication important in the relationship between practitioner and patient?
In the essay I am going to write about why good communication is vital to a healthy practitioner/patient relationship in clinical areas. I am going to do this by looking at many different ways to communicate and how effective they are. I will also be looking into how barriers can effect good communication. I will achieve this by observing communication skills while out on practice and also by researching other papers and articles in this area.
A definition of communication from is-
“Since human beings are social animals they have a need to communicate. Communication is the ex-change of messages between two or more individuals. The sender must use the
These can be crying, grunting and whimpering even though no words are being spoken they are trying to send out a message. Due to the lack of understanding of communication nurses tend to ignore or dismiss these signs of distress or offer support by saying ‘it’s all right’ or ‘don’t worry’ instead of sitting with the patients to talk to them about their worries and anxiety”. (Jennifer Wilson Barnett 1981) I witnessed a nurse acknowledge these signs whilst out on placement when a gentleman was grunting the nurse went over to ask if he was ok and he told her that he was in a lot of pain and would like some pain relief. His grunting had made the nurse more aware of his presence and suggested to her that something maybe wrong and so when she investigated it she found out the problem and had it quickly resolved. These forms of verbal communication can sometimes easily be misunderstood though, for example crying could be perceived in many different ways. You could cry because you are happy, sad or in pain. So they always need to be followed up by an effective form of verbal
Nonverbal communication is usually understood as the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless messages. These can be sign language, facial expressions, gesture, body language, your posture, eye gaze and appearance. All of these factors can have major effects on your relationship. If you have bad non verbal communication skills it doesn’t matter what you are discussing with the patient this is all they will be aware of. (Phil Russell 2007) If you are having a conversation with a patient and they are talking it is good to promote interpersonal communication skills by keeping good eye contact with them, to show them that you are interested and listening. When you are talking to someone you should be aware of your body language, if you are standing over them whilst they are sitting and you have your arms crossed you are going to make the patient feel uneasy and it may affect the conversation. You should also always try to be at the same eye level as the person you are talking to. Another really important part of non-verbal communication is your facial expression it should be at an expression that is appropriate to the conversation for example if you are having a conversation with someone about their family and they are happy you should be smiling as well to show your interest, if you had a frown the patient may feel that they are boring you or wasting your