Healthcare - Nursing Professional's Roles

Running head: ESSAY
Reflection
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

ESSAY1
Introduction- Nursing professionals play a significant role in the delivery of
healthcare services and also help in strengthening the system of health and social care. They
are responsible for bringing patient-centred care closer to the society, where they are most
needed, thus providing assistance in improving the health outcomes of all patients, and the
general cost-effectiveness of the services (Masters, 2018). Nursing staff have been identified
as first responders to the multifaceted humanitarian issues and disasters and also help in
protecting and advocating for the patients and the coordinators working within healthcare
team. Communication forms a significant component of the roles and responsibilities of
nursing professionals. Nurses are in possession of incredible expanse of clinical expertise and
medical knowledge. Nonetheless their utmost challenge, and possibly most vital job is based
on communication (Arnold and Boggs, 2019). Each phase of the nursing approach, beginning
from patient admission to patient release and beyond, the nursing professionals must connect
well to deliver all-inclusive care.
Communication expertise for nurses are indispensable, nonetheless may be
problematic to master. Communication generally refers to the exchange of facts between
individuals by sending and obtaining it through language, inscription or any other medium.
Effective communication suggests that the intended information is exchanged successfully
between persons. With the aim of being a successful nurse, outstanding communication skills
are obligatory. Nurses express their opinion and decisions to persons of diverse cultural,
educational, and social backgrounds, and are expected to do so in a caring, effective, and
professional way, particularly when collaborating with patients and family members (Giger,
2016). Some common principles of communication that are imperative in the nursing
profession are namely, (i) communication is a procedure and not linear, (ii) communication is
multifaceted, (iii) it encompasses the complete personality, and (iv) communication is
irreversible.

ESSAY2
Interaction between all individuals is typically cyclic, thus suggesting that what is
conveyed by a person generally evokes a reaction from another individual, which in turn
stimulates the first person to give a response. Three significant elements that are imperative
for successful communication are a sender, a receiver, and a clear message. Nursing
professionals generally engage in two types of communication namely, verbal and nonverbal.
Verbal communication is related with spoken words and is extremely significant in the
healthcare setting. Associates of the interdisciplinary healthcare group verbally communicate
with each other, together with their patients and family members (Khatib Zanjani and
Moharreri, 2020). In contrast, non-verbal communication is not dependent on words. Often
referred to as body language, this form of communication can share a great deal or might
completely give the incorrect impression. While communicating nonverbally with patients
and team members, nurses generally use their accent, bodily contact, facial and gestural
movements, emotive tone, posture, proximity, timing of speech, speech errors, and direction
of gaze (Eaves and Leathers, 2017). The excellence of communication between patients and
nurses creates a foremost impact on patient outcomes. Therefore, a nurse is required to
continuously attempt to advance his/her communication expertise owing to the fact that poor
communication can be precarious and result in misperception. In this essay, we shall reflect
on challenges that were encountered, in relation to our communication skills during
placement at the psychiatry ward. This will be followed by an action plan for future
development.
The incident- My reflection is about a patient, aged 20 years, to whom, with the aim
of maintaining patient confidentiality, I will denote as Ms. X. The reflection is associated
with an event that occurred while I had been on my placement at the psychiatry ward of a
multispecialty hospital. Whilst during this placement, I had been a witness to several positive
incidents, the episode of delivering care to X stood out from the rest due the communication

ESSAY3
and cultural challenges that I had encountered. On the second week of my placement, I had
been asked to provide care to Ms. X who had recently been admitted after a failed suicide
attempt. She had also tried to stab her relative with a knife. Following her admission, I had
been assigned with the task of administering her the prescribed medications and maintaining
a constant vigilance, lest she harms any other patient or staff at the ward. On reaching her
bedside, I found X to be a poorly groomed young lady who appeared preoccupied and
inattentive.
Initially I tried to introduce myself to her by stating my name and also tried to provide
her assurance that her healthcare needs will be appropriately addressed at the facility. While
doing this, I placed my hand on her shoulder and also mentioned that that there was no need
to worry. This can be accredited to the fact that placing a reassuring hand on the shoulder of a
patient or holding the patient’s hand has been identified as the most significant type of touch
that facilitates the development of therapeutic relationship, the key to being a successful
nurse (Dziadzko et al., 2017). It helps the patients know that the healthcare professionals are
available for them and that they care for the patient’s demands and healthcare needs.
However, X suddenly became agitated and demonstrated restlessness, excessive motor
activity and started calling me names. I tried to pacify the patient by stating that her privacy
shall not be violated under any circumstance and also apologised for not having taken her
permission, prior to placing my hand on her shoulder. After looking at her family history and
previous medical records, I found that by the age of eighteen, she started reporting paranoid
delusions and auditory hallucinations. Although she had been diagnosed with schizophrenia a
year ago, she refused to take any medications and had numerous earlier hospitalizations,
along with a history of noncompliance as a patient. There was no recognised history of
alcohol, tobacco, or illicit drug usage. The family members stated that she was subjected to