Communication Strategies in Nursing: Case Study and Analysis

This essay examines the importance of effective communication in nursing, using a case study where a senior nurse displays aggressive behavior towards a junior nurse during a patient wound dressing procedure. The essay applies communication frameworks, particularly assertive communication, to address the issue. It also explores the use of ISBAR (Introduction, Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) as a communication tool and highlights the significance of shared governance in nursing practice. The analysis emphasizes the negative impact of ineffective communication on patient safety and the professional development of junior nurses. The essay recommends the adoption of assertive communication and ISBAR techniques to foster a safer and more supportive environment, improve patient outcomes, and enhance the overall quality of healthcare. The references provided support the concepts discussed, offering insights into leadership, communication, and patient care.

Running head: IMPROVING COMMUNICATION IN NURSING 1
Improving communication in nursing
Student by (Name)
Institution

IMPROVING COMMUNICATION IN NURSING 2
Compelling health communication is perceived to be a basic and critical part of
healthcare at both the individual and more extensive open level. Good communication is related
to positive healthcare results in medical practice and should be observed. The content of this
essay applies communication frameworks as well as other nursing communication concepts to
the second case scenario where an adult nurse expresses aggression to a fellow nurse. The case
relates to personal experience where on the first day of placement, the senior nurse allows me to
dress a patient’s wound. In the course of the patient care completion, the nurse comes in and
challenges everything I was doing in manner that shows aggression. The nurse’s comments
shows poor communication existing between physicians all over the hospital. The content of the
paper therefore in relation to what happened in the case discusses various concepts, nursing
communication tools as well as the framework which can be used to improve such kind of
ineffective communication.
There are various nursing communication concepts and frameworks which can be applied
to the selected case scenario. However, assertive communication is the most appropriate
framework which can be applied to the case scenario. As already mentioned above the senior
nurse showed a sense of aggression which can best be corrected through assertive
communication. Assertive communication is nursing communication framework which allows
an individual to function effectively just as the other team members (Nouri & Rudd, 2015). It is
crucial in risky environment such as bedside patient care since it ensures that an appropriate
environment is created for patient safe and recovery. Through adoption of assertive
communication framework, medical practitioners are able to see problems and speak up to it in
order to correction what is not right. Based on the comments of the nurse, assertive
communication framework is the best way the aggression can be solved. This is because it will

IMPROVING COMMUNICATION IN NURSING 3
enable me as a nurse to speak with the fellow nurse regarding the issue in a more respectful way.
The communication tool that can be applied to the case in order to improve the situation is the
ISBAR which prescribes the most effective way of communication in a health care facility.
Governance in nursing is quite different from other sectors even though senior nurses
have authority and autonomy to make crucial decisions. In a nursing setting, there is a classical
approach with an administration approach which is grounded on control of operations,
hierarchical ranking and centralization of decision making. However, vertical decision making in
a hospital setting is not recommended and nurses regardless of their position are required to
apply share governance and collective decision making (Riley, 2015). The senior nurse in the
case scenario would have approached me as a fellow nurse before making the overall decision to
correct the techniques applied to dress the patient’s wound. Shared governance requires a leading
nurse to include junior nurse practitioners in decisions making which helps them to grow in the
field as well as prepare them for the future leadership. The senior nurse remarks are discouraging
and does not provide safety room not only for me as a fellow nurse but to the patient as well.
Based on this the communication can be classified as ineffective.
Effective communication between nurses and physicians provides room for development
junior nurses practitioners as well as healing of the patient. Patient under medical care needs
assurance and safety for quick healing, therefore the communication can be classified as
ineffective because the patient involved felt unsafe and this may lead to increased healing time.
Based on the concept of shared governance, the senior nurse should have call me as a student and
showed me the correct and best way to dress the wound. However, the nurse did not show any
sense of shared governance but expressed authority and vertical decision expressed in an

IMPROVING COMMUNICATION IN NURSING 4
aggressive manner which negatively influenced my morale and made room unsafe for the patient
(Finkelman, 2015).
Most of the problems happening in hospital settings occur as a result of ineffective
communication between nurses and fellow medical health practitioners. Without communication
frameworks, developed nursing communication concepts and tools, poor communication
between nurses and other medical practitioners can be perilous resulting to resentment among
staffs and errors affecting patient recovery. As evident in the case study, the patient developed
an attitude and felt unsafe being treated by a student and this may have grave effects on his
healing process. Therefore application of assertive communication is therefore important and
can help solve the situation present in the case study (Williams, Kemper & Hummert, 2016).
Through assertive communication, nurses are able to communicate in a way that creates safety
healing as well as environment that promotes personal growth in the organization. With assertive
communication the nurses are able to express their thoughts and stand firm in defending their
rights in a more respectful, open and honest way which without any aggression. In case the
nurse would have adopted assertive communication framework, he would have passed
information regarding the dressing of the patient’s wound in a more respectful and honest way
without aggression as he did.
Based on the analysis of the case study, it is recommended for nurses as well as other
health practitioners to adopt assertive communication framework which will enable them to
stand up against aggression from cohorts and defend their rights in an appropriate manners
without conflicts. Moreover, adoption of assertive communication will enable nurses to feel good
and self-confidence as well as learn on how to deal with fellow nurses and how the colleagues
will deal with you as a nurse (Mulder, Lokhorst, Rutten & Woerkum, 2015). Apart from

IMPROVING COMMUNICATION IN NURSING 5
adoption of an assertive framework is also crucial for hospital settings to adopt ISBAR
techniques. ISBAR as a communication tool in a hospital setting is crucial as it bridges the
existing gap between two different approaches utilized by two different nurses while taking care
of a patients. As evident in the case scenario, both the senior nurse and I had different techniques
of dressing the wound. The existence of different wound dressing approaches resulted into a
conflict which could not have existed with application of ISBAR technique (Hargie, 2016).
Through identification, situation, background, assessment and recommendation as a junior nurse
I would have all the required information to dress the patients wound as required by the senior
nurse. Based on the case study evidence is therefore crucial for nurse practitioners to apply
ISBAR in order to make information about patients under care available to all medical
practitioners taking care of the patient.
Effective communication in a hospital setting provides required environment which is
crucial in healing and positive outcome in healthcare. Nurses within a hospital setting have the
largest portion of the responsibilities relating to patient care. Thus without an effective
communication between the nurses as evident in the case study, healthcare can be a problem and
challenging to the patient. It is therefore required for nurses to communicate clearly in order to
provide required healthcare for their patients. In order to achieve effective communication,
medical practitioners must embrace communication techniques, concepts, communication tools
as well as shared governance (Nouri & Rudd, 2015). Moreover, tools like ISBAR, assertive
communication framework, shared governance do not only enable effective communication but
results into development of the required skills in medicine and patients care.

IMPROVING COMMUNICATION IN NURSING 6
References
Finkelman, A. (2015). Leadership and management for nurses: Core competencies for quality
care. Pearson.
Hargie, O. (2016). Skilled interpersonal communication: Research, theory and practice.
Routledge.
Mulder, B. C., Lokhorst, A. M., Rutten, G. E., & van Woerkum, C. M. (2015). Effective nurse
communication with type 2 diabetes patients: a review. Western journal of nursing
research, 37(8), 1100-1131.
Nouri, S. S., & Rudd, R. E. (2015). Health literacy in the “oral exchange”: An important
element of patient–provider communication. Patient education and counseling, 98(5),
565-571.
Riley, J. B. (2015). Communication in nursing. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Williams, K., Kemper, S., & Hummert, M. L. (2016). Enhancing communication with older
adults: overcoming elderspeak. Journal of psychosocial nursing and mental health
services, 43(5), 12-16.