Therapeutic Communication Errors in Nursing Practice

This essay discusses the therapeutic communication errors that occur in nursing practice and their impact on the nurse-patient relationship. It also provides strategies to rectify these errors.

Running head: HUMAN LIFE COURSE DEVELOPMENT
Human life course development
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1Human Life Course Development
Introduction:
Therapeutic communication is considered as one of the effective tool in the field of nursing in
order to provide better patient care. It is defined as the method of face to face communication that can be
used in the process of interaction which focuses on maintaining the emotional and physical well-being
of the patient (Knapp 2014) Error in the therapeutic communication worsen the therapeutic relationship
among the nurse and the patient. The aim of this essay is to explain the therapeutic communication error
that occurred during the interaction between Sandra smith and the nurse.
Error 1:
Effective communication helps maintaining a good rapport with the patient. The first step to
effective communication is to know the information about the patient (Davis Boykins 2014). In the
video it is observed that the nurse did not know the name of the patient. Initially she said Mandy and the
patient corrected her by saying that her name is Sandy not Mandy. Her attitude was extremely ill-
mannered. With the help of these the patient feel more connected to the nurse.
However in the video, it is identified as the first communication errors. It forms an instant
negative impression of the nurse in front of the patient which can act as barrier in the future treatment
process. They feel less privileged and will not be able to say anything confidently in future.
In order to reduce such communication in nursing practice it is important for the nurse to know
each and every detail of the patient that can is related to the treatment of the patient. It does mean only
the medical details such as, the disease patient is suffering from, but the nurse should also know the
basic details such as, name, age and sex of the patient. If the nurse will be aware of all the information
regarding the patient he/she is going to treat, this communication error can be rectified.

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Error 2:
Each and every profession has some professional boundaries, so as nursing and it is extremely
for an individual to maintain that boundaries and should not be crossed at any means. In the healthcare
organization, nurses play an important role in forming professional relationship with the patient.
Professional boundaries means the nurse or patient should not talk about their personal life which is not
related to the treatment (McLennan et al. 2016). However in the video, the nurse is not aware about her
professional boundaries and she started taking about her personal life such as, she had a long night.
Professional boundaries should be maintained by nurse at each and every phase of the treatment
of the patient, if not maintained it can form negative consequence on the therapeutic relationship. If the
nurse talks much about her personal life which is not at all needed, it can hamper her image in front of
the nurse. Patient might feel detached due to the difference in opinion or the dissimilarity in the way of
leading the life, which might become a barrier in the treatment of the patient (King et al. 2014).
To rectify such error, it is important in professional relationship. Nurses should not discuss about
their personal life until and unless it is not needed.
Error 3:
Therapeutic Communication is one of the most effective tool used by the nurses to make an
effective therapeutic relationship, but if not done in appropriate way it can have negative impact also
(Riley 2015). Hence in order to avoid such negative consequences nurses should be aware of the dos and
do not’s of the effective communication. It is the responsibility of the nurse to create awareness
regarding the treatment, medication and tests (Cloete 2015). However in the video, it has been observed
that, after measuring the Blood pressure, she said that it does not have any significance and is just a
procedure. Apart from that, the nurse does not involve herself much in the listening process while doing
the whole process.

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Listening is extremely important to maintain an effective relationship with the patient. If not
done properly, the patient will not feel comfortable with the nurse and will not be able to share her
problems which is the main objective of therapeutic relationship (Bramhall 2014). The nurse is giving
her wrong information about the blood pressure test. Due to this the patient might get in future health
complication as she also might think it is just a procedure and does not have any significance.
To avoid such communication error, nurse should involve much in listening process to gather all
the information related to the treatment as well should not provide any wrong information to the patient.
Instead they should create awareness regarding medical tests and treatment among the patient
(Renukadevi 2014)
Error 4:
Maintaining the professional boundaries is also an important factor in forming an effective
relationship to the patient. In the video it has been observed that, the nurse is getting personal with the
patient without her permission. She is discussing about patient’s personal life such as talking about her
previous relationship which is not at all acceptable. The patient seems to be embarrassed and hesitated to
talk about her past and personal life. It is also one of the communication error identified in the video.
Such therapeutic communication error caused by crossing the professional boundaries can form a
negative impact on the patient. The patient will feel judged and might not get attached that much with
the nurse in the future. This communication error can also create hindrance in gathering information
from the patient required for the treatment due to less attachment and for being judged (King et al.
2014).
In order to ensure the effective communication, the nurse should not ask any personal details
from the patient which is not needed in the treatment. Only medical details is gathered from the patient
and if any personal information is required, the approach should be appropriate. The nurse should not

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judge the patient or say something for which the patient might feel embarrassed (Liberati, Gorli and
Scaratti 2016)
Conclusion:
From the above essay it can be concluded that, effective communication is one of the most
effective tool in providing better patient care. Communication error is considered as one of the barrier
that has been identified in forming effective relationship. In the above essay, the communication barrier
in the video are identified. Along with communication barrier, professional boundaries which are
crossed in the video by the nurses such as discussing about her personal life and getting involved in
patient’s personal life has also been discussed. The significance of the communication barrier along with
the strategy that can be used to rectify those errors are also discussed.

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Reference
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Cloete, L., 2015. Reducing medication errors in nursing practice. Cancer Nursing Practice, 14(1).
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Knapp, H., 2014. Therapeutic communication: Developing professional skills. Sage Publications.
Liberati, E.G., Gorli, M. and Scaratti, G., 2016. Invisible walls within multidisciplinary teams:
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