Effective Communication Strategies for Nurses

This assignment aims to improve communication skills among nurses by providing them with intense training and motivating them to master over the skills required for appropriate communication with patients. The goal is to enhance the confidence of nurses in communicating effectively with patients, ultimately leading to improved patient care.

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Professional and
Academic skills for
Nursing

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Reference List
Arnold, E. C. and Boggs, K. U., 2015. Interpersonal Relationships-E-Book: Professional
Communication Skills for Nurses. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Boyd, C. and et.al., 2015. Communication Skills for Nurses. Primary Health Care. 25(6).
Lindberg, M., Wikström, B. and Lindberg, P., 2011. A behavioural nursing intervention for
reduced fluid overload in haemodialysis patients. Initial results of acceptability,
feasibility and efficacy. Journal of nursing and healthcare of chronic illness, 3(2), pp.87-
98.
Eichelberger, M., Joray, M.L., Perrig, M., Bodmer, M. and Stanga, Z., 2014. Management of
patients during hunger strike and refeeding phase. Nutrition, 30(11), pp.1372-1378.
Kurtz, S., Silverman, J. and Draper, J., 2016. Teaching and learning communication skills in
medicine. CRC press.
McCabe, C. and Timmins, F., 2013. Communication skills for nursing practice. Palgrave
Macmillan.
Article A
Reference: Lindberg, M., Wikström, B. and Lindberg, P., 2011. A behavioural nursing
intervention for reduced fluid overload in haemodialysis patients. Initial results of
acceptability, feasibility and efficacy. Journal of nursing and healthcare of chronic illness,
3(2), pp.87-98.
Precis: As per the author Haemodialysis (HD)patients are needed to make some change in
their way of living ( Lindberg,Wikström and Lindberg, 2011). This will help them to promote
health, well-being and to preserve life. In order to prevent excessive fluid overload it is
needed to intake a limited fluid. The dietary restriction need to be managed by patients in
order to maintain health of patients. In this a series of single- case AABA -designs was
utilized. A changing criterion methodology was also utilized during the treatment. The
interdialytic weight gain was the primary outcome measure (Arnold and Boggs, 2015). At
each session of dialysis weight was recorded. The percent weight gain was selected for this as
the mass of body and number of days between treatments are accounted for that measure. In
order to elicit and assess the relative contribution of self-reported factors a social -cognitive
factors such as beliefs, emotions and physical feeling were used. About eight session of
treatment was offered to each patients and also an extra booster session to patient were also
given. The patients who were having excess fluid overload were considered as fidelity. Using

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the initials individual analysis and primary outcome measure the efficacy of the intervention
was measured (Boyd and et.al., 2015). The participant who answered the question taught that
the intervention programme was happy with this and none of them taught that there was any
inconvenience that was there in the ongoing HD treatment. The four participant in this
procedure that all the procedures fitted well with produce of dialectic. In this some
disadvantage were also recognised such as addition session during intervention phase was
wanted by some patients. In order to reduce HD paints this study presented acceptability and
feasibility of an intervention that was deigned .In these four cases the behavioural medicine
approach was the reason behind fluid overload.
Article B
Reference: Eichelberger, M., Joray, M.L., Perrig, M., Bodmer, M. and Stanga, Z., 2014.
Management of patients during hunger strike and refeeding phase. Nutrition, 30(11),
pp.1372-1378.
Precis:
As per the author a life-threatening re-feeding syndrome may be developed due to resuming
hunger strike (Eichelberger, Joray,Perrig, Bodmer and Stanga, 2014). For the medial staff
hunger strike presents a core challenge. The main objective of their research was to examine
the efficiency and security of evidence based communication for prevention and
management of RPS. During the re-feeding phase its effectiveness will be tested.
The methods that was used in order to conduct this research are that during a 5 year period
37 consecutive , unselected cased of prisoners on a hunger strike was observed and analysed.
Among 37 cases there was about 33 individual patients. During the hospital stay among 7
cases the hunger strike was continued. Among 16 cases after admission to the curtsey ward
the huger strike took place immediately (Kurtz,Silverman and Draper, 2016). During the
phase of re-feeding the rates of medical complications can be kept at a minimum at a hinger
strike population. In order to optimize risk management this study supported use of
recommendation and also it will enhance the treatment and safety of patients in this
vulnerable population(McCabe and Timmins, 2013)
Reflective Account of searching the Literature

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What?
My essential skill cluster is enhancement of communication skills among nurse and patients. I
identified that the communication level among nurses and other staff members with patients
is very low and there need of enhancement in this skill of nursing. The communication
among these members are not able to meet the particular standard and the lack of effective
communication process leads to provision of improper care to the patients (Ganzer and
Zauderer, 2013). This forces me to carry out a research on the communication skills among
nurses and other health care professionals working the hospitals and healthcare settings. And
on the basis of this research I came up with result that more than 2.2 million people in the
healthcare department lack the skills regarding effective communication. Thus in order to
provide the effective care the patients there is need of active communication among nurses
and other health care providers with patients.
However, the major issue that was faced by me during the completion of the project is when I
had to select two effective article that can make the articulation easy yet effective. I had to go
through various articles from peer reviewed journals and finally got to select two of them
which helped in serving the purpose and objective of the project as well. I conducted three
stage process where in the first stage I selected all the articles that were related to my topic.
Then, in second stage of selection, I chose 5 effective articles from the pool. In the last and
the third stage I went through all the articles being chosen and selected two of them which
were most effective. Hence, finding out the journal was not an easy task for me and hence
make it quite challenging as well. Driscoll tool. There are commonly three steps, which are,
What?, so what? and now what?. These are three stages of experimental learning cycle.
Another reflective tool that was used during this reflection is Gibb’s reflective Cycle. This
was developed in 1988 and is somewhat similar to Kolb’s Learning Cycle. There are 6 steps
in the Gibb’s reflective cycle and each step involves the description of the event along with
reflection on the experience (Fern and et.al., 2013). The following stages of Gibb’s reflective
cycle were involves in this reflection:
 The first stage is the description of the event which includes actually what happened
when the vent take place.
 The second stage is feeling, which includes the feeling and thinking of the particular
person on the basis of the event that take place.
 Then third stage is evaluation stage in which the particular individuals evaluate about
the bad and good experience they have experienced.
 Fourth stage includes the analysis of the situation faced by particular individual.

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 Fifth stage is the conclusion stage that leads individual to think about the other
possibilities or what else could be done.
 Final stage is the formation of action plan which can be used if the particular situation
again arises.
So What?
It is one of the stage of Driscoll reflection tool. On the basis of the two article it was found
that effective communication is necessary for the provision of appropriate care to the patients.
And it was also found that there need of provision of effective training to the nurses so that
they are able to provide the effective care to the patients. The thing that went well is that
practitioner have the effective communication skills thus they are able to provide both bad
and good news in appropriate manner to the patient’s. As strong communication among
patients and practitioners aid in building a strong relationship with patients and are able to
handle the patients more effectively in severe cases (Keall, Clayton and Butow, 2014). Along
with this it was also found that due to strong communication process the nurses also get
acknowledged regarding actual condition of the patients and helps in determining the
effective treatment procedure for them.
The things that doesn’t go well were many nurses are enough trained and lack appropriate
knowledge regarding effective communication skills and are not able to provide the patients
with effective care services. Thus due to this nurses tends to lose the confidence and
motivation in the practice area. This loss of confidence further effect the proper working of
nurses in the practice area. The lack of effective communication also act as the barrier for
nurses in order to transfer the information of patients to other nurses working in next shift.
This further pose negative impacts on the health of the patients as they are not able to receive
the care that is required due to the lack of information reading their problems. Along with this
due to lack of communication many nurses are tends to develop the frustration in them as
they are not able to understand what to do and what type of care is required by the patients
(Garbee and et.al., 2013).
Now What?
There is need of some measures in order to improve the communication skills among the
nurses. The measure taken include provision of training to the nurses, encouragement for
having effective communication with the patients and other healthcare professionals. Through
training nurses are provided with knowledge and importance of effective communications
skills in the practice area. They are acknowledge with various steps that help in improving
their both verbal and non-verbal communications skills (Howatson-Jones, 2016). The training

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also provides nurses with knowledge to understand the needs of people who are not able to
communicate effectively during the provision of care. Along with this nurses are also trained
regarding the key concepts that helps them in initiating the communication with patients.
The next important key aspect for the effective communication is the provision of
encouragement to the nurses while they provide nursing care to the patients. The
encouragement can be provided by increasing their level of confidence when they deal with
variety of patients. Again in this concept also training plays an important role in increasing
the level of confidence among nurses and other care providers. As training helps them in
mastering over the care services they provide to patients. Thus by improving the nursing care
styles and learning the concepts of advanced nursing also helps in improving the confidence
among nurses. This raise in confidence helps nurses to initiate a communication with their
patients. The communication is further increased by involving the parents and family of
particular patients in the provision of care service. This helps nurses in gaining information
regarding medical history of patients, their needs to come up with situation and complications
that they are facing that hinders the normal functioning of their life.
Along with provision of encouragement and training, positive motivation also plays an
important role in improving the communication skills of the nurses (Nicotera and Mahon,
2013). Nurses are motivated by the peers and other healthcare professionals in order to
improve the way of communication with patients which helps them in gaining information
regarding patient’s health. Thus in case of any hindrance in communication I can come up
with problem by following the above mentioned important concepts that are responsible for
managing the effective communication among nurses, healthcare professionals and patients.
Action Plan
My Learning
and
Development
Target/Aim
How will I achieve it? How will I know I
have been successful?
What is my
Timeframe/
Review Date
Academic
Making aware
about proper
use of words
for effective
By making nurses
acknowledge and providing
information about the
effective words that are easy
to understand by the
patients
By making
communication with
colleague and other
healthcare professionals
in the hospital. This
help in accessing the
This goal will
be achieved
within the
duration of 15
days.

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communication. progress in learning the
effective
communication skills.
Academic
Making them
acknowledge
regarding
effective
communication
process.
Teaching nurses and other
service providers about the
definition of the effective
communication and making
them aware regarding types
of communication and its
importance.
The progress to fulfil
the goal can be
assessed by performing
the communication
with patients in the
practice area and then
with the evaluation of
feedbacks one can
determine the success
rate of the goal.
This goal can
be achieved
within the
duration of 2
days.
Practice
By providing
nurses with
intense training.
Provision of intense and
effective training help
nurses and other health care
professionals in mastering
over the skills required for
appropriate communication.
Through this training the
nurses are able to
communicate effectively
with patients and is capable
of providing them with
advanced nursing practice.
By making the effective
communication with
patients in the practice
area the nurses are able
to assess the progress in
the improvement of the
communication skills
among them.
This require
longer duration
and specific
sessions in
order to
complete the
training. But
overall tis
training can be
completed
within the
duration of 1

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month by
conduction of 4
session of
training.
Practice
Providing
nurses with
motivation and
encouragement.
Nurses can be provided with
training to master over the
skill that aid them in
providing the patients with
effective care. Thus this in
turn increase the confidence
among nurses and further
provide them with
encouragement which tends
to increase their
communications skills in the
practice area. Along with
this peers and other
healthcare professionals also
play an important role in
providing motivation and
encouragement to the nurses
that helps them in enhancing
their communication skills
in order to build a strong
relationship with patients.
With the effective
training session and
communicating with
peers and other
healthcare professionals
helps nurses in
assessing the progress
in skills required for
nursing.
This goal can
be fulfilled in
within the
duration of 10
days.
References:
Fern, L. A. and et.al., 2013. The art of age-appropriate care: reflecting on a conceptual model
of the cancer experience for teenagers and young adults. Cancer nursing. 36(5). pp.E27-
E38.
Ganzer, C. A. and Zauderer, C., 2013. Structured Learning and Self‐Reflection: Strategies to
Decrease Anxiety in the Psychiatric Mental Health Clinical Nursing
Experience. Nursing education perspectives. 34(4). pp.244-247.
Garbee, D. D. and et.al., 2013. Interprofessional Teamwork Among Students in Simulated
Codes: A Quasi‐Experimental Study. Nursing education perspectives. 34(5). pp.339-

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344.
Howatson-Jones, L., 2016. Reflective practice in nursing. Learning Matters.
Keall, R., Clayton, J. M. and Butow, P., 2014. How do Australian palliative care nurses
address existential and spiritual concerns? Facilitators, barriers and strategies. Journal
of clinical nursing. 23(21-22). pp.3197-3205.
Nicotera, A. M. and Mahon, M. M., 2013. Between rocks and hard places: Exploring the
impact of structurational divergence in the nursing workplace. Management
Communication Quarterly. 27(1). pp.90-120.