Therapeutic Communication Skill

Running head: THERAPEUTIC COMMUNICATION SKILL
THERAPEUTIC COMMUNICATION SKILL
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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THERAPEUTIC COMMUNICATION SKILL
Introduction:
In this assignment, I will talk about my skills and knowledge of therapeutic
relationship development with patients and the ways they helped in developing the quality of
life of a patient with dementia. NMC standards of practice advise nurses to build and develop
partnerships and therapeutic relationships with different interpersonal skills and effective,
non-discriminatory communication. Nursing professionals need to ensure application of their
nursing skills, knowledge and maintenance of the ethical guidelines and professional codes of
conduct along with standards of practice (Brooker and Latham 2015). These would help them
to care for a patient successfully helping to increase the patient satisfaction (Stokes 2017).
During the time of placement, I had to care for a patient named Mr XYZ who was 70 years
old and suffering from preliminary stages of dementia and chronic osteoarthritis. He was
found to be entirely withdrawn from the society and even did not socialise with the other
members of the wards or with the healthcare teams. He was also upset that he could no longer
conduct his activities of daily living by himself and requires the help of family members. He
often forgets submitting the house bills, his pathway to the park, where he had kept things
and many others. He felt himself to be a burden and lost his will to live. This assignment will
show the various components I included in my nursing care services for the patient that
helped him to develop quality life
The fundamentals of nursing mainly form the base or core on which the
nursing principles are based on. Some of the fundamentals of nursing are treating all patients
with dignity and humanity, being accountable of the actions taken and interventions applied
and promoting evidence based care. Other principles are taking a person centred approach
and putting patient and his family members at the centre of decision-making. Being up to date

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about the different knowledge required in healthcare and working with the healthcare teams
collaboratively are other necessary fundamentals. One of the most important fundamental on
which the following assignment would be based on is therapeutic relationship development
with patients by applying effective communication and interpersonal skills. This helps in
ensuring better patient outcomes and high level of satisfaction and hence this skill is chosen
for the assignment.
The concept of nursing can be well linked with the codes of practice put forward by
NMC as well as that of Department of Health or DOH. The concept of care is intricately
associated with prioritising people in ways by which they are put at the centre of decision
making and are encouraged to participate in their care plan development. Listening people
and responding to their concerns, respecting their privacy and dignity are some others
(Nmc.org.uk 2015). One of the most important concept of caring is to communicate with
people and working cooperatively with them, being accountable, preserving their safety are
some others. Similar attributes are also supported by Department of Health with compassion
and commitment as the important values that need to be incorporated along with advocacy,
support and relationship development (Department of health 2012). They have also focused
on the importance of communication as an important arena where nurses can increase patient
satisfaction and cooperation from the patient in their own care.
The first important nursing value that I decided to follow was to ensure development
of therapeutic nursing skill and effective communication skill with the patient X. My focus
while treating the dementia patient X was to make him as independent as possible and
empower him greatly, so that he gains back his lost confidence through effective non-verbal
communication skills with perfect body language. He was low on self-esteem and self-respect
that impacted his emotional and mental health. He had completely withdrawn himself from
the family members and society as his feeling of loss of independence and being dependent

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on caregivers had affected him deeply. Therefore, I wanted to develop his quality of life to
ensure that he overcomes his depression and anxiety and be happy.
The nursing component that I focused on while providing person centred care for the
X was therapeutic relationship. Studies are of the opinion that development of therapeutic
nurse client relationship is associated with increased confidence of the patient on their own
abilities and thereby leads to patient satisfaction (Barbosa et al. 2015)). Patients also shown
high acceptance of the treatment interventions applied on them and their alignment and
adherence to the treatment procedures result in higher outcome on the patient (Roen et al.
2018). Therefore, I applied five important nursing components that helped in development of
therapeutic relationship with X through effective communication so that patient satisfaction
increases and he respond to the treatment without remaining withdrawn.
The first component that I integrated (while communicating with Mr. X and providing
care services to him) was trust. Studies have found that trust is a critical in nurse-client
communication and relationship development as clients remain in a vulnerable position
(Jonasson et al. 2017). Initially, trust in such relationships is quite fragile and therefore it
becomes important for a nurse in keeping promises to the client. When trust is breached, the
establishment of a relationship becomes difficult. Some of the steps by which I tried to
develop trust in the nurse-patient relationship while communicating with Mr. X are to
respectfully call him with his name, listening to the patient actively, offering constant follow-
ups about his health and meeting his needs. Other studies stated that remaining calm and
friendly, keeping requests and meeting needs of the patient, offering appropriate greetings
and closings are extremely important (Kim and Park 2017). While caring for Mr. Smith, I
maintained all the actions in a dedicating manner so that effective therapeutic relationship
develops with the patient.