The process of therapeutic communication in nursing consists of several steps: develop communication goals, create the message, deliver the message, listen to the response, and seek clarification of the response. The primary characteristics of therapeutic communication are building trust through honesty, active listening, and respecting patients’ beliefs and values. To evaluate therapeutic communication, one must reflect on the patient’s response and compare the response to the desired communication goals.

The four phases of a comprehensive interview are the preparatory phase, the introductory phase, the maintenance phase, and the termination phase. The best techniques the nurse can use during a comprehensive interview help the patient to answer questions without interrupting their flow of ideas; these techniques include asking open-ended questions, adaptive questioning, encouraging the patient to verbalize their feelings, and respecting the patient’s values and beliefs. Finally, there are special considerations to recognize when conducting a comprehensive interview: age, cultural, and emotional issues can all add complex factors that nurses must take into consideration.

The purposes of patient education and teaching are to promote positive patient outcomes, health literacy, and self-care. Many factors can affect patient learning, including the patient’s learning needs, age and developmental level, and readiness to learn. The nurse’s role in patient education and teaching involves determining effective teaching strategies, evaluating patient learning, and documenting the teaching-learning process.