Summary

Nurses are responsible for providing good communication in all healthcare settings and facilities. The nurse should establish a trusting relationship with the patient and use appropriate communication demonstrating active listening, pertinent inquiry, and empathy throughout each patient encounter. The nurse should use verbal communication with the patient, making sure there is congruency with nonverbal communication during the patient encounter. The nurse can use written and electronic communication as a means of communicating with the patient, noting what the patient prefers. The nurse can use four levels of communication—intrapersonal, interpersonal, small-group, and public communication—when providing safe and effective care for the patient. Reflecting on care provided for the patient encompasses intrapersonal communication and is a powerful tool allowing growth of the nurse. The nurse should use both interpersonal and small-group communication while engaged in patient care, as each helps the nurse provide safe and effective care. Using public communication for health care is paramount to disseminate research findings.

Nurses should recognize that there are several models of communication that they can employ when communicating with patients and other healthcare team members. For example, if the nurse would like to communicate without feedback, such as when providing presurgical directions, the nurse should use the transmission model of communication, establishing a linear, one-way model of communication. If the nurse is providing discharge instructions, the nurse should use the interactional model in which two-way communication is established between the patient and nurse, allowing for feedback from either the patient or the nurse. If the nurse is responsible for presenting research findings from a research study conducted where they work, they should use the transactional model of communication, in which the nurse can establish social relationships with other researchers who have interest in the topic. Nurses need to recognize which model of communication is most useful in each situation.

Nurses help to establish effective communication among patients and the healthcare team. Effective communication that is factual, clear, concise, practical, and persuasive is important as many ideas and thoughts are exchanged between the patient and their healthcare team. Professional communication should be part of effective communication among healthcare team members and the patient, establishing trustworthiness in the relationship. Professional communication should include courtesy and empathy, which assist in developing trustworthiness. Patients are more likely to change health behaviors if they trust their healthcare team. To assist patients in changing their health behaviors, healthcare team members should use MI. Motivation interviewing uses the processes of engaging, focusing, evoking, and planning to help the patient adopt healthier behaviors. The use of effective, professional communication with MI should help the patient to meet their health goals.

Therapeutic communication is a technique that should be used by all healthcare providers because it allows patients the ability to better express themselves. Patients who can express themselves better are more likely to be engaged in the nurse-patient relationship and be more interested in improving their health outcomes. Nurses should use open-ended questions and engage in respectful communication with the patient. Nurses should be able to evaluate their own therapeutic communication with the use of a feedback loop. Nurses should avoid nontherapeutic techniques for communication, as they prevent further communication from occurring between the nurse and the patient.

Nurses need to recognize communication barriers and work with patients and the healthcare team to overcome them. Patients receive better, more comprehensive health care if communication barriers, such as noise or physical environment that occur often in healthcare settings, are removed. Healthcare providers should be cognizant of their EI to overcome communication barriers. If the healthcare provider regularly practices self-management, their ability to provide effective communication is increased. Because the healthcare environment can be fraught with communication barriers, using EI to disable some of those barriers serves patients well. Nurses have a unique opportunity to overcome communication barriers; they are usually the main communicator with the patient, and if nurses recognize and address the communication barriers present, then safe, effective care that the patient is satisfied with will result. Communication is the basis of health care, and surmounting the barriers effectively positively affects the health care delivered.