Communication and Reflection in Nursing: Barriers, Essential Elements, and Strategies for Improvement

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COMMUNICATION AND REFLECTION
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Introduction
Nursing as a science of health care, concentrates on attending to the needs of people as
spiritual and biopsychosocial beings. Its practice necessitates not only systematic knowledge, but
as well technical, intellectual and interpersonal, capabilities and skills. This implies an alignment
of interpersonal communication, knowledge, and clinical work. Communication is an essential
component in Nursing in every area of activity and in all its interventions such as therapy,
rehabilitation, education, prevention, health promotion, and treatment. Moreover, the nursing
procedure as a scientific system of exercise and implementation of Nursing is attained through
interpersonal environment, exchange of ideas, and with explicit abilities of verbal
communication (Sully, et al., 2010). Communication is a process and if this particular process
breaks down then the communication will as well fail. Communication process is dynamic and it
all depends on the effective execution by the parties involved. From the “Poor Communication”
video on the YouTube, there are clear communication barriers between the nurse and her patient.
For that reason, their communication process is not effective and clear. There are many instances
when people interacting may fail to recognize one another’s needs (Morrissey & Callaghan,
2011). This paper will also reflect on my eventful encounter with the police, who had mistaken
me for having taken a stolen bicycle, which required a proper explanation to get myself out of
trouble. While it takes a lot of effort to become an effective communicator, hence it is
fundamental that a person strives to become thorough communicator.
Describe What Barriers to Communication are displayed by the Nurse
From the video on poor communication, the nurse expresses a clear lack of empathy and
understanding towards her patient. The barriers seen here in communication, as expressed by the
nurse is the lack of proper listening skills. As a clinical professional, there is a great need for one

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to have a patient-centered listening approach towards the clients (Berman et al., 2017). For
instance, in the video, the nurse is giving her patient little or no chance to express and explain her
conditions and the way she is progressing with her therapy. This scenario, therefore, denies the
patient to correctly state her current situation properly.
What Essential Elements of Effective Patient-Clinician Communication should the
Nurse Have Displayed?
All the professional nurses are required to exhibit outlined principles of communications
towards their patients. According to Paget et al (2011, p.3) the clinical professionals should
exhibit seven basic principles of effective patient-clinician communication. Among them is
mutual respect, supportive environment, the right information and harmonized goals among
others. These are the essential elements that the nurse in the video should have displayed during
the conversation with her patient, to make the process more suitable for the patient.
How Might this Example of Ineffective Communication Impact on the Patient
Recovery?
The instance of ineffective communication as displayed by the nurse could be detrimental
to the recovery of the patient (King et al., 2014, p.2). The problems may arise from both sides, in
that when the patient does not give the nurse all the required information regarding his or her
condition, the nurse may end up giving wrong prescription. Likewise, when the communication
from the nurse to the patient is not clear, the patient may follow wrong instructions, which
interferes with the recovery process (White, 2016).
How is Effective Communication related to the Registered Nurses Scope of
Practice and Ethical Responsibilities?