Communication in Nursing Practice

65Mater Sociomed. 2014 Feb; 26(1): 65-67 • PROFESSIONAL PAPER
Communication in Nursing Practice
Communication in Nursing Practice
Lambrini Kourkouta1 , Ioanna V. Papathanasiou2
Nursing Department, Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki, Greece1
Nursing Department, Technological Educational Institute of Larissa, Greece2
Corresponding author: Ioanna V. Papathanasiou, RN, MSc, PhD, Clinical Professor. Nursing Department. Technological Educational Institute of Larissa,
Greece. Phone: [phone]. E-mail: [e-mail] , [e-mail]
ABSTRACT
Good communication between nurses and patients is essential for the successful outcome of individualized nursing care of each patient. To achieve
this, however, nurses must understand and help their patients, demonstrating courtesy, kindness and sincerity. Also they should devote time to
the patient to communicate with the necessary confidentiality, and must not forget that this communication includes persons who surround the
sick person, which is why the language of communication should be understood by all those involved in it. Good communication also is not only
based on the physical abilities of nurses, but also on education and experience.
Key words: Communication, Nursing, Nursing Care, Communicational Skills, Principles of Communication.
1. INTRODUCTION
Nursing as a health care science, focuses on serving the needs
of human as a biopsychosocial and spiritual being. Its practice
requires not only scientific knowledge, but also interpersonal,
intellectual and technical abilities and skills. This means a com-
position of knowledge, clinical work and interpersonal commu-
nication (1). Communication is a vital element in Nursing in all
areas of activity and in all its interventions such as prevention,
treatment, therapy, rehabilitation, education and health promo-
tion (2). The nursing process moreover as a scientific method of
exercise and implementation of Nursing, is achieved through
dialogue, through interpersonal environment and with specific
skills of verbal communication (3).
As communication we can define the exchange of informa-
tion, thoughts and feelings among people using speech or other
means. Therapeutic practice involves the oral communication
of public health officials and nurses on the one hand and the
patient or his relatives on the other. It is a two way process.
The patient conveys their fears and concerns to their nurse and
helps them make a correct nursing diagnosis. The nurse takes
the information and in turn transmits other information to
the patient with discretion and delicacy as to the nature of the
disease and advises with treatment and a rehabilitation plan for
health promotion (4).
Effective communication requires an understanding of the
patient and the experiences they express. It requires skills and
simultaneously the sincere intention of the nurse to understand
what concerns the patient. To understand the patient only is
not sufficient but the nurse must also convey the message that
he/she is understandable and acceptable. It is a reflection of the
knowledge of the participants, the way they think and feel and
their capabilities (5).
In order for the nurses to be successful in their work they
have to study communication and interpersonal relations in
their education with special courses and internships. They need
to learn the various aspects and applications of communication
in various fields of nursing (6). In this context it is understood
that emphasis must be placed on the importance of communi-
cation between nurse and patient and nursing education must
focus on communication skills of nurses.
2. PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNICATION
Communication can be defined as a transaction and mes-
sage creation. The entire process occurs in a context consisting
of physical space, cultural and social values and psychological
conditions (7). Communication assists in the performance
of accurate, consistent and easy nursing work, ensuring both
the satisfaction of the patient and the protection of the health
professional. When health professionals are not trained in com-
munication skills, they face more difficulties separating work
from their personal life, tending to transfer problems from one
side to the other (8).
Communication is an intrinsic characteristic of human
nature. Nobody cannot communicate. Communication has
content and value. The contents regards to what was said, whilst
the relationship regards as to how it was said. The nature of the
relationship depends on how the two parties understand the
communication sequence (9). Communication is never uni-
directional. It is an interaction in which each sender becomes
receiver and vice versa. The failure to recognize the two-way
communication capability, quite often leads to negative conclu-
sions and attitudes (10).
Moreover, the message sent is not the same as the message
received. The decoding of the messages is based on individual
DOI: 10.5455/msm.2014.26.65-67
Received: 11 November 2013; Accepted: 15 February 2014
© AVICENA 2014
PROFESSIONAL PAPER Mater Sociomed. 2014 Feb; 26(1): 65-67
Published online: 20/02/2014
Published print: 02/2014