Communication in Nursing - Importance and Strategies

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

COMMUNICATION IN NURSING
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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she has withdrawn herself from all kind of activities such as painting and drawing.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