Importance of Therapeutic Communication in Nursing

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

1NURSING THERAPEUTIC COMMUNICATION
In accordance to the standards of practice formulated by the Nursing and Midwifery
Board of Australia (NMBA), registered nurses are required to adhere to Standard 2, which
requires adherence to therapeutic and professional relationships with patients and additional
health professionals, for which conductance of therapeutic communication is of utmost
importance (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia 2019). Therapeutic communication
encompasses nursing usage of interpersonal verbal as well as non-verbal interactions with the
patient, using cultural competence and patient-centered approaches, which will allow the nurse to
incorporate the patient’s personalized needs, opinions and preferences further resulting in patient
perceptions of positive treatment satisfaction and feelings of dignity, respect and security
associated with the healthcare organization (Weber and Farrell 2016).
The following paragraphs of the essay will reflect upon the need for engaging in
therapeutic communication in nursing by extensively critiquing scenes from the film ‘Wit’
directed by Mike Nichols, which portrays importance of communication and compassion amidst
a background of the lead character, Vivain contemplating key moments from her life as she
receives no empathy during her end-of-life hospital stay.
Part 1: Upon viewing the film ‘Wit’ - several unfortunate events demonstrate a
significant lack in therapeutic communication, especially after the lead character ‘Vivian’ was
admitted at the hospital upon being diagnosed with stage 4 of ovarian cancer. One of the primary
examples of lack of adherence to therapeutic communication can be identified in the scene where
Vivian is being explained the details of her health and physiological condition by the lead doctor,
Dr. Kelekian. The doctor can be observed to engage in the usage of terms which are not only
highly scientific but extremely difficult for Vivian to comprehend or absorb – a key example of
lack of consideration of therapeutic communication. Taking insights from Galbany-Estragués

2NURSING THERAPEUTIC COMMUNICATION
and Comas-d’Argemir (2017), it is worthwhile to mention that health professionals are entitled to
possess a degree of freedom to engage in authority over patients - due to them possessing
extensive levels of health literacy compared to patients. However, in criticism, taking insights
from the recommendations by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare,
healthcare must focus on improving the quality of care and life of patients via usage of the
therapeutic communicative strategies of patient centered approaches - which necessitates
clinician’s encouragement of directly involving patient preferences in their care plan resulting in
positive health outcomes in the patient (O’Loughlin et al. 2017). Hence, taking insights from the
above, the doctor’s avoidance of therapeutic communication is not justified and highly inhumane
for the patient.
Another key example which is worthy of discussion, is the lack of non-verbal
communication by the doctor or the associated healthcare workers during obtaining personal
information from the patient as well during conductance of an MRI assessment where Dr.
Kelekian or his workers did not feel the need to smile or make eye contact with Vivian or
attempt to at least patiently explain her the procedures and reasons for administering such
invasive procedures, resulting in considerable anxiety in Vivian. In contrast, commendable usage
of therapeutic communication, empathy, patience and effective non-verbal communication can
be observed in Susan, the registered nurse allocated for Vivian’s care. It can be observed that
Susan adhered to Vivian’s privacy, assured her for need of any assistance and considerable
advocacy by requesting the doctor to decrease Vivian’s dose of chemotherapy upon complaints
of side effects. According to Machiels et al. (2017), therapeutic communication encompasses key
skills such as engagement in patient centered approach of communicating the care details to the
patient, being empathetic to the patient’s needs and issues as well as adhering to the patient’s