Professional and Academic Skills for Nursing

This document discusses the importance of effective communication skills among nurses and healthcare professionals in providing proper care to patients. It highlights the need for training and encouragement to improve communication skills and suggests strategies to enhance communication in healthcare settings.

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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

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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
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)

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Reflective Account of searching the Literature
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. I thought that to search for this journal was not
an easy task it was quite challenging for me. As I have to go through certain journals .
The driscolls 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.
 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?
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

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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
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

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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.
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-
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.
Action Plan

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My Learning and
Development Target/Aim
How will I achieve
it?
How will I know
I have been
successful?
What is
myTimeframe/
Review Date
Academic
Making aware about proper
use of words for effective
communication.
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 progress in
learning the
effective
communication
skills.
This goal will
be achieved
within the
duration of 15
days.
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
Provision of intense
and effective
training help nurses
By making the
effective
This require
longer duration
and specific

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intense training. 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.
communication
with patients in
the practice area
the nurses are
able to assess the
progress in the
improvement of
the
communication
skills among
them.
sessions in
order to
complete the
training. But
overall tis
training can be
completed
within the
duration of 1
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
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.

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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.