COMMUNICATION IN NURSING

Communication in Nursing

Communication in Nursing

Introduction

Communication is a necessary skill to have in the nursing profession. We use communication to exchange information between patients, co-workers and all the people around us (Kozier et Erb 2004). No matter the form of communication we are constantly presenting and interpreting people's ideas and thoughts. Communication is a method we utilize to connect the gap between knowledge and comprehension (Kozier et Erb 2004).This paper will discuss an observation of the personal care home environment, modes of communication such as; verbal and non-verbal, effective communication methods and barriers to communications.

Task 1

Task 1: Observation Of Personal Care Home Environment.

I visited an urban personal care home in the inner city. I will be identifying this personal care home as PCH "X". I walked into the facility and it was very clean and spacious. I conducted my observation during lunch time in the dining room. This area was poorly lit and the temperature was very humid. There was also music playing in the background during mealtime. This personal care facility was very respectful, kind and caring to the residents in their care. The communication I observed in general was very clear and concise.

Verbal communication is a mode of communication that uses both written and spoken words (Kozier et Erb 2004). Here is an example of verbal communication: At PCH "X", a nurse was giving medication to a resident and he introduced himself. The resident did not respond to the nurse so the nurse approached him in a different manner. He crouched down to the resident's level and spoke to him again in a calm voice and lightly touched his shoulder. The resident later complied with his directions to take his medication. The nurse took a different approach with his verbal communication by speaking softly. Verbal communication is largely used due to the fact that people usually chose the words they use (Kozier et Erb 2004).

Another mode of communication is non-verbal communication. Non-verbal communication involves other forms of communication such as gestures, facial expressions, and touch (Kozier et Erb 2004, page 423). Most people who use verbal communication use various forms of non-verbal communication simultaneously. The nurse in the example above used non-verbal communication, when he crouched down to the resident's level and lightly touched his shoulder. This second example involves non-verbal communication: A Health Care Aide was about to assist a resident with lunch. The resident was not aware of his environment and had difficulty feeding himself. The Health Care Aide asked the resident to open his mouth but he did not respond. As a result, the Health Care Aide opened his own mouth and the resident mimicked him and they were able to continue feeding.

Effective communication is a very important aspect in a nursing career. Here is a summary of some effective communication strategies that I have observed at PCH "X": *Health care workers appeared to be neat and tidy wearing uniforms. This will convey a non-verbal communication method of ...