Professional Communication in Patient Safety

The essay focuses on the role of effective communication in nursing with an Aboriginal patient Mary Chan. It discusses how professional communication can promote safe health and wellbeing, patient empowerment, and self-care. The paper identifies various barriers in nursing communication, different types of communication, and ways of communicating with different groups of patients. It also emphasizes the importance of culturally sensitive communication while dealing with Aboriginal patients.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION IN PATIENT SAFETY
PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION IN PATIENT SAFETY
Name of the Student
Name of University
Author’s note

PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION IN PATIENT SAFETY
Professional communication in the safety of the patient
Introduction
Professional communication in nursing is essential in nursing as the nurses have to
communicate to a large number of people with varied cultural, educational and the linguistic
background (Hill, Hall &Glew, 2017). Effective communication among the health service users
and the health service providers promotes safe health and wellbeing. It also helps to promote
self-care, helps in patient empowerment, enhancement of self-esteem (McCabe and Timmins,
2013) The essay would focus on the role of effective communication in communicating with an
Aboriginal patient Mary Chan.
Discussion
The role of professional communication has been discussed in the light of a case study
that describes about an Aboriginal female patient Mary Chan, who had been admitted to a
clinical setting for a comprehensive assessment. It should be noted that communication does not
only mean a two way interaction, but it is actually much more than sharing information
verbally(Levett-Jones, 2016). The aboriginals depend largely on traditional healers and the bush
medicines to cure diseases. It is the effective communication that can be helpful to develop a
relationship of trust between the service providers and the service users (Levett-Jones, 2016).
This development of the therapeutic relationship between the patient and the caregivers helps the
patient to adhere to the treatment regimen (Levett-Jones, 2016). Effective communication assists

PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION IN PATIENT SAFETY
the caregivers to understand the actual needs of the patient and provide a patient centered care.
Patient centered care can be considered as one of the major aspect of the profession of nursing.
Patient centered care underpinned the ethical principles of empathy, autonomy, respect,
transparency and beneficence. Hill, Hall and Glew, (2017) have stated that the caregivers who
practice a patient centered care are likely to be open minded, self regulated, self aware and
generally posses a profound sense of accountability towards the profession.
Again, Mary Chan is an elderly patient and might be burdened with both physical and
the emotional stress, hence a caregiver can communicate with the person and provide her/him
with psychological support. McCabe and Timmins, (2013) have identified, that patient safety
outcomes have been linked to effective communication. It has been associated with reduced
hospital stay, reduced rate of the medication errors.
It is through effective communication that important medical information is delivered to
the patients. Effective communications skills have to be adopted by the nurses while the
disclosure of any adverse new. Again communication helps in the delivery of the necessary
information to the patient to promote self care (Levett-Jones, 2016). Patient autonomy and
seeking consent from the patient is one of the important elements of nurse-patient
communication and hence should be followed while assessing Ms. Chan. Communicating with
the patient provides scope to the patient to take part in the decision making process. Right after
the communication process it necessary to keep a documentation of the patient’s records. All the
documentations of Mary Chan can be written or can be electronically generated. It should be
remembered that the documents might act as simple patient records that saves time during patient
assessment, but also might act as legal documents at the time of any lawsuits. While

PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION IN PATIENT SAFETY
communicating with Mrs. Chan, it is necessary to make a conducing environment.
Communication should be made with no external distractions that will ensure privacy and
confidentiality. Choice of words should be appropriate and devoid of any medical jargon, such
that Ms. Chan does not feel awkward for not being able to understand the medical terms.
While dealing with the Aboriginal patients’ nurses should be able to differentiate the
segregated care of the male and the female. Being a woman, Mary Chan might feel it
uncomfortable to be assessed by a male caregiver .In that case she might be kept under the care
of some female nurse. Again, language can be important barriers to communication. In such
cases, interpreters can be used. It is necessary to mention, that elderly people define disease or
perceive ill health in a different perspective and hence might refuse treatment. Kourkouta, and
Papathanasiou, (2014) has stated that, effective communication necessitates knowledge of the
patients and the experiences that they share. Communication might occur both verbally and non-
verbally. The non verbal communication can be expressed by body languages, gestures, and
posture and physical barriers like the distance from the interlocutor. While dealing with the
aboriginal patients, it is necessary to understand the non verbal cues. For example, Mary Chan
might require some time to respond but this gesture again can be misinterpreted in other culture
as a gesture of disrespect (Kourkouta and Papathanasiou, 2014). Active Listening is an important
aspect of communication. Active listening is helpful for the nurses, as it helps the nurses to
assess the problems and the situation; they enhance the self esteem and helps in the
amalgamation of both the nursing analysis and care process present at all the levels. Kourkouta
and Papathanasiou, (2014) has identified that frankness and honesty is a significant requirement
for a successful communication. The process of communication is bidirectional, but the health
care professionals are liable for the proper conduct of communication. The strength of this paper

PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION IN PATIENT SAFETY
is that, it has rightfully identified the various barriers in nursing communication, the different
types of communication and ways of communicating with different groups of patients.
However, some of the communication gaps that have been identified in this paper is the
demography of the aboriginals, their lack of reliability in the westernized mode of treatment.
As per the Nursing and the Midwifery board of Australia, nurses are accountable to
provide a culturally safe care to the patients. It is evident that Mary Chan is a 66 years old
Female of aboriginal origin, hence nurses should be culturally sensitive whole communicating to
the aboriginal patients (Nursing and Midwifery board of Australia, 2018). As per the standard 2
of the NMBA codes, nurses are accountable to uphold their professional standards by accepting
other’s values and beliefs and preserve the dignity and integrity of the patient.
Conclusion
In conclusion it can be said, that in spite of the several codes of practice, the health care
professionals fail to engage in professional communication with the nurses. Patients are widely
satisfied with the nurses who actually communicate well. Ineffective communication has been
found to be linked to mistrust, increased risk of medical errors, dissatisfaction, hostility and
anger (Levett-Jones, 2016). Hence nurses and the health care professionals are accountable to
develop professional communication skills in order to deliver a patient centered care.

PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION IN PATIENT SAFETY
References
Hill, R., Hall, H., &Glew, P. J. (2017). Fundamentals of Nursing and Midwifery: A Person-
Centred Approach to Care.
Kourkouta, L., &Papathanasiou, I. V. (2014). Communication in nursing practice. Materia
socio-medica, 26(1), 65. doi: 10.5455/msm.2014.26.65-67
Levett-Jones, T. (2016). Critical Conversations for Patient Safety EBook. Pearson Australia Pty
Limited.
McCabe, C., & Timmins, F. (2013). Communication skills for nursing practice. Macmillan
International Higher Education. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.in/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=7EcdBQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=communication+in+nursing&o
ts=iE-cmSDC7n&sig=p7neA9fa8Y2886uw5kxDGZGqkNg
Nursing and Midwifery board of Australia. (2018). Registered nurse standards for practice.
Access date: 25.1.2018. Retrieved from:
https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Statements/Professional-
standards/registered-nurse-standards-for-practice.aspx