Therapeutic Communication Skills

Running Head: THERAPEUTIC COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Therapeutic Community Skills
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THERAPEUTIC COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Way of proceeding with the health interview
In the given scenario, Emily, who is 3-year-old toddler visit to the pediatrician office for
immunization. Emily is crying, shouting and seems upset that may be due to fear from her past
experience. The nurse is already aware that immunization of Emily is up to date, and thus, the
nurse should go for the interview by taking a few steps. At first, she needs to calm down the
child and then, ensure her that no one in the clinic is going to harm her in any manner. Then, the
nurse should acknowledge that the child will not have to get boo boo shot at that time. The nurse
should behave friendly and make Emily comfortable for the health interview.
List of factors affect communication
Communication is considered as a significant skill for sending or receiving messages to
the other. There are various factors that influence communication between the nurse and the
child. The factors are discussed below:
Cultural factors: The factor consists of language, customs, belief system and morality.
Language is the main barrier in communicating effectively. In the given case, the mother of the
child is Chinese, and hence, they communicate in the Chinese language. Language affects the
communication with the patient because of the difference in translations (Paternotte, van
Dulmen, van der Lee, Scherpbier & Scheele, 2015).
Situational factors: The factors involve social as well as the physical environment that
affects communication between two persons (Testa & Rossettini, 2016). In the given scenario,
the social environment of the pediatrician office or clinic where the checkup of children takes
place. Emily feels uncomfortable in that environment and afraid, which affects the
communication.
Communication technique
Several therapeutic communication techniques can be used for collecting data to
complete the health history of Emily. The communication techniques are as follows:
Use of open-ended questions: Open-ended questions are beneficial for the nurse to
collect full health data about the patient (Martin & Chanda, 2016). It will allow the child to
discuss her feelings with the nurse.