Interpersonal Relationship and Nursing Skills

Running head : interpersonal relationship
Interpersonal relationship and nursing skills
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors Note

1Interpersonal Relationship and Nursing Skills
Introduction
Interpersonal communication increases the knowledge and expertise of nurses for
maintaining professional relationships with patients in a positive way. This will help them to
share their feelings, information, meaning through verbal and non-verbal communication. To
continue interactions with the patients, nurses can follow different communication strategies.
Active listening, therapeutic communication, observation, cultural awareness are included in
the communication strategies. Patients with speech problems cannot correlate with the normal
communication strategies for their different cognitive impairment. The assignment will cover
age appropriate communication and the effectiveness of the communication strategies. The
essay will also focuses on efficacy of communication in the patients experiencing a disability
of speech.
Discussion
Age appropriate communication strategies are important for collecting the
information of the patients for better treatment and assessments. The communication should
be age specific as children and adults have different level of understanding due to variation of
their psychological development. Age specific communication can be categorised by
different age groups such as infant, adolescent, adult and geriatric. During the communication
of children, the nurses should use appropriate and simple languages skills. According to a
report of UNICEF, children required special communication strategy, which must be person-
centred and easy to comprehend (www.unicef.org., 2020). Children of different ages have
different preferences and interests as a result various types of communication techniques
should be taken under considerations. The newborns are not able to express themselves with
words and need tremendous amount of attention of their caregiver. Therefore, to address the
problems of newborn, nurses must educate new parents and make a care plan for

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implementation of effective communication to understand newborns’ needs. Toddlers have
the sense of independence as they just enter tom the developmental stages. They witness
different experiences due to the changes of their height and weight and understanding. Nurses
should thoroughly explain the care plan in a softer tone that will help the kids to understand
their health condition in a better way. They understand time sequences, three directions,
rhythmic conversation, and description of an object. Interactive or attractive stories and
colourful diagrams or shapes with comprehensive approach should be applied on this age
group. Adolescents have enough understanding of their health conditions and they can easily
understand the situation after demonstrations. However, some lack of awareness and
misconceptions might be observed in this age group. For the adults, nurses should inform
every details of their condition and medications. Therapeutic relationships are of relevant
significance to create cooperative care for the child and the family. Nurses should take care
of older patients carefully as sometimes they are unable to understand the complexities
related to their health condition. Patients with physical and psychological disabilities can be
treated with effective therapeutic communication. Effective communication includes
approach of 6 Cs. This approach includes Care, Compassion, Competence, Communication,
Courage and Commitment and these parameters will help to guide the nurses in
communication (Bradshaw, 2016). Patients should be recognised as associates in decision-
making and providing consensus, not just as impassive recipients of care. Nurses must keep
patient’s privacy whilst outstanding observant to issues of preservation, confirming suitable
disclosure of material by the child that may increase apprehension.
As discussed in the essay, communication is very important aspect for nurses to treat
the patients with different disabilities. However, the patients with physical and cognitive
impairment face difficulties in communications. Communication deficit can be observed due
to underdevelopment of neurological or psychological aspects. United Nation has guaranteed

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rights of the individuals with communicative impairments with other disabled people. speech
problems can be caused in an individual for different factors such as autism, ADHD, strokes,
oral cancer , dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). There are three basic types
of speech impairment such as articulation, fluency and voice disorders. Stuttering, aphasia,
apraxia, dysarthria and voice disorders are some example of speech impairment in adults.
Children with autism, orofacial myofunctional disorders cause speech problems. Speech
impairments of an individual can be improved with therapies and treatments. The affected
individual cannot communicate by producing meaningful words due to some physical
abnormalities. Speech and language impairment can be disoriented or atypical
communication is one of the most prevalent symptoms for speech impairment(Arnold &
Boggs, 2019). Treatment of the speech impairment should be included with family therapy
and person centred therapy. Both the therapies are significant in the patients of cognitive
impairment, retardation, autism and affective disorders. As these children grow, different
factors are evolved with the age and subtle disturbances in the communications can be
observed in them. In older adults, communication deficiency is developed due to memory
loss, stroke and different neurological condition. Nurses should maintain an empathetic
conversation with the patients to reduce the hesitation in communication. Symbols and signs
can be used for effective communication in between patients and nurses. Non-verbal
communication such as eye contact, gesture, touch and facial expression can be as effective
as verbal communication. Sign language is very effective for the patients with autisms and
inborn speech impairments (Lorah, Tincani, & Parnell,2019).. Involvement of family is very
important for continuing comprehensive interactions with patients. Visual aids such as charts,
models and pictures are important for better interaction between patients and nurses (Lopez et
al., 2016). Short and simple sentences should be used for communicating with the older adult
patients. Nurses should use the words, which are commonly used by the patients during

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conversation to continue effective communication. Reassurance and informing physiological
condition in an assertive way are some factors, which can be counted as effective technique
for communication.
Conclusion
This essay will conclude effective communication techniques for the interaction
between nurses and patients. Patients with speech problems cannot correlate with the normal
communication strategies for their different cognitive impairment. Age appropriate
communication strategies are important for collecting the information of the patients for
better treatment and assessments. Communication deficit can be observed due to
underdevelopment of neurological or psychological aspects. Non-verbal communication such
as eye contact, gesture, touch and facial expression can be as effective as verbal
communication.

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References
Arnold, E. C., & Boggs, K. U. (2019). Interpersonal Relationships E-Book: Professional
Communication Skills for Nurses. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Bradshaw, A. (2016). An analysis of E ngland's nursing policy on compassion and the 6 C s:
the hidden presence of M. S imone R oach's model of caring. Nursing inquiry, 23(1),
78-85.
Lopez, K. D., Wilkie, D. J., Yao, Y., Sousa, V., Febretti, A., Stifter, J., ... & Keenan, G. M.
(2016). Nurses’ numeracy and graphical literacy: informing studies of clinical
decision support interfaces. Journal of nursing care quality, 31(2), 124.
Lorah, E. R., Tincani, M., & Parnell, A. (2019). Verbal behavior intervention in autism
spectrum disorders.
www.unicef.org. (2020). Principle 1 - Communication should be age-appropriate and child-
friendly. Retrieved 14 January 2020, from
https://www.unicef.org/cwc/cwc_58587.html