Effective Communication in Nursing

Running head: COMMUNICATION
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IN NURSING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1COMMUNICATION
Communication is an important aspect of healthcare as it helps the nurse to understand
the patents experience about healthcare interventions applied to improve his/her health condition
(Alligood, 2017). In this assignment I will be reflecting on one such effective communication
which I evolved after applying it to several situations.
This communication experience was with a 65 year old Greek patient Jake, who was
admitted to hospital after having severe pain in his lower abdomen, with bloating. He was
identified with irritable bowel syndrome and while informing this to his wife Maria, I used the
communication theory of Lasswell, which is also known as the theory of five W’s (Vangelisti,
Daly & Friedrich, 2013). I informed her that his patient is suffering from IBS as well as anxiety,
which made her tensed. However, with this clear message, I modified the communication theory
by assuring her that quality care and proper medication will improve her husband’s health
condition (Dougherty & Lister, 2015). Which provided her relief and she started trusting on the
healthcare process by providing her complete support. Hence, the communication process was
effective and successful.
From the undergraduate nursing degree, three primary style of communication I have
witnessed, which has helped to overcome any adverse situation or respond to any good or neutral
situation. These are personal relationships, active listening and nonverbal communication. In the
complex nursing work culture, it is very important to develop a nursing communication skills as
communication is a process which cannot follow a bound path (Alligood, 2017). Therefore I also
developed a communication style in which I try to listen to people first and then help them to
grasp the knowledge through my understanding. The primary influence for this evolution was
complex patient situations, in which patient as well as their family member were not being able