Communication in Nursing - Importance and Strategies

This essay discusses the importance of communication in nursing, especially in mental health care. It also suggests strategies for building rapport with patients and overcoming communication barriers. The case study of Kirra is used to illustrate these points.

Running head: COMMUNICATION IN NURSING
Communication in Nursing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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1. In providing care to any patients, the communication skills of the care providers are
very crucial as a good communication skills of a nursing care provider is associated
with the good quality of care. In case of providing care to a mental health patients, the
interpersonal knowledge and quality of the nurses are very crucial. It is suggested
that, only an effective communication can improve the quality of care as good
communication skill of the care provider will make the patient to feel comfortable and
the patient may take part in the treatment process in a positive manner (Kurtz, Draper
& Silverman, 2016). In this essay, the case study of Kirra is described in a brief
manner. The case study depicted that, Kirra is 20 year old girl who is suffering from
the problems like weight loss, loss of appetite, loneliness, mood swings. She had no
friends apart from her family members and she is living with her mother, step-father
and younger brother. Recently she has come to know that, her father has become
alcohol addicted and she went to her father frequently. She is very upset after
knowing the condition of his father and she is feeling very lonely. In addition to this,
she has withdrawn herself from all kind of activities such as painting and drawing.
Even, she discontinued her degree course classes and she did not want to interact with
the counsellor as well.
2. It is very crucial to make a good rapport with the mental health care patients as it will
help the counsellor to take out more information from the patients. There are a few
techniques which can be followed by a counsellor in order to build a good rapport
with the patients of mental health patients. As a primary strategy, the counsellor can
use the active listening strategy as in various studies it is reported that, the active
listening process is very effective in building rapport with mental health patients
(Wolpert et al., 2016). During this process, the counsellor should behave respectfully
to the patient and this will make the patient more comfortable as he or she may have

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feeling of respect and it may encourage him or her to participate in the care process.
Moreover, the counsellor should introduce herself or himself to the patients and that
will make the patient more interested about the treatment process. Then the counsellor
should follow the communication style and accent of the patient so that the patient can
easily understand the instructions of the counsellor and he or she will easily
communicate with the counsellor as well (Kurtz, Draper & Silverman, 2016).
3. From the case study of Kirra, it is reported that, she is not interested in talking with
the counsellor and in such condition, the counsellor may use the non-verbal
communication technique. In this process, the counsellor will try to assess the patient
by assessing the body language, voice, facial expression of the patient, touching the
patient in order to show empathy to the patients. The counsellor should evaluate the
body language of the patient in order to understand the condition of the patient
(Meadors & Murray, 2014). In case of Kirra, it is reported that, she has shared a few
information about herself. During this time, the counsellor should assess the sound of
Kirra’s voice, her accent of speaking, facial expressions during those moments.
These information will help the counsellor to communicate with the patient in a non-
verbal way. In addition to this, the counsellor should listen the few words said by
Kirra so that the counsellor had all the detailed information regarding the condition of
Kirra. Therefore, the case study showed that, Kirra is very upset regarding the
condition of her father and during this period the counsellor can use the touching
strategy and this may make feel better to the patient. However, the counsellor must
take permissions before touching the patients as this may not be liked by the patient.
However, this strategy can be used for Kirra when she is telling about the poor
condition of his father (Benbenishty & Hannink, 2015). The aforesaid strategy will
help to remove the barriers between the counsellor and the patients. In this case, this

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strategy may be helpful as Kirra is not willing to talk with the counsellor and if Kirra
feels comfortable then she may agree to talk with he counsellor as well.
4. During delivering care to Kirra, the counsellor may face psychological barriers as she
has not any social support. She is only connected with the family members and due to
this social isolation she is feeling lonely as well and this may create barrier in the way
of effective communication. Kirra has kept aside herself from all kind of social
attachment and she has stopped her classes of degree courses. In addition to this, she
is very worried about the condition of her father and this may create a barrier in the
way of effective communication. The poor condition of Kirra’s father also make the
condition more critical for counsellor as that condition promote the issue of social
isolation of Kirra (Bramhall, 2014). The counsellor should motivate Kirra to start her
favourite activities such as drawing and painting as this may help to reduce the
loneliness issue of Kirra. In addition to this, she should be motivated to join her
classes so that she can have social attachment due to the presence of her friends.
Telling a motivational story to the patient might be helpful in such condition and this
technique may be used for Kirra to motivate her about the life. Moreover, the
counsellor may help Kirra in solving the problem of her father. The counsellor may
try to build a verbal communication with the patient so that he or she have more
information about the patient (Zhu et al., 2016). So, it can be said that, by using such
strategies, the counsellor may decrease the barriers of communication.
5. The case study of Kirra, suggested that, she had provided the consent form but she is
not willing to continue the treatment process. In the case study of Kirra, the
counsellor should take care about the confidentiality of the patient’s information. As,
the patient is not willing to take treatments, the counsellor may ensure Kirra that, the
he or she will not reveal any information related to Kirra to any other except from the

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family members. Such kind of assurance may help the treatment process in a positive
manner as well. In addition to this, the maintaining the confidentiality will help kirra
to take part in the treatment process. According to the study of Lu, Kerr and
McKinlay (2014), it is reported that, maintain confidentiality regarding the patient’s
information will improve the treatment outcome of the patients with mental health
problems.
6. By analysing the case study of Kirra, it was observed that, Kirra had problems
regarding weight loss, low BMI, loneliness. Moreover the case study suggested that,
Kirra had lost her appetite and she felt good without having any foods. She is feeling
lonely as she observed that the condition of her father is not good at all as he has
become alcohol addicted. On the other hand, Kirra is not interested even in the
favourite works of herself such as drawing and painting. Even, she has withdrawn
herself from her educational activities that is her degree course classes. So, it can be
recommended that, the Kirra should be referred to a dietician so that her problem of
weight loss and loss of appetite can be addressed. In multiple studies, it is observed
that, the referral to a dietician is quite effective in case of diet management and the
dietician can solve the problem of weight loss and appetite loss (Teasdale et al.,
2017). In case of Kirra, she may be referred to a dietician for such problems.
Secondly, it is observed that, social isolation is one of the major problem of the
mental health patients and social workers can promote social inclusion of such
patients (Hwang & Burns, 2014). In case of Kirra, a social worker may be included in
the treatment process so that, the social worker can motivate Kirra to social activities.
Thirdly, it is observed that, the kirra is feeling very sad due to her father’s condition.
In order to, resolve this problem, it is recommended that, the patient should be
referred to a psychologist (Holmes, Craske, & Graybiel, 2014). So, Kirra can be

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referred to a psychologist as well. As many experts are included in this process, so it
is very crucial to continue the chain of confidentiality in case of kirra and the health
care professionals included in this process should also follow the confidentiality issue
throughout the process. Moreover, it is quite evident that, due to presence of three
professionals in the treatment process, there may be cases of communication gap
among them and it will result in adverse patient outcome (Childress, 2015).
Hence, it can be concluded that, an effective communication is very essential
in delivering care to a mental health patients and in this case study, Kirra’s problem is
depicted. Moreover, during this process, the included health care professionals should
consider the issue of information confidentiality. However, there is chances of
communication gap during inter-professional communication process. So, it is the
duty of the health care professionals to manage this issue during delivery of care.

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