Nursing Assignment 1: Communication Analysis in Healthcare Settings

This report analyzes two video role plays depicting healthcare professional communication with patients, focusing on neonatal intensive care (NICU) and discharge planning for a suicidal patient. The assignment assesses the student's understanding of effective communication skills in healthcare. The student critically reflects on each scenario, linking observations to relevant communication theory and literature. In the NICU scenario, the report highlights the importance of patient-centered strategies and the creation of a therapeutic relationship to address parental stress. In the discharge planning scenario, the report focuses on suicide prevention, the establishment of a strong patient-counselor relationship, and the importance of effective communication skills to understand the patient's psychosocial state. The analysis includes discussions of communication barriers, the role of cultural sensitivity, and the need for healthcare professionals to be attentive to patient needs and concerns. The report concludes by emphasizing the significance of effective communication in patient assessment and the delivery of appropriate therapeutic interventions.

Running Head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The essay will address the different methods in which health staff communicates with the
patient in relation to the two types of hospital environment that include neonatal intensive
care and discharge planning in a suicide attempt patient. The essay obviously shows the need
for communication skills in the healthcare sector. There is a specialist ward in neonatal
intensive care with the special team of doctors and nurses to take care of new sick or
premature babies. In the suicidal patient discharge planning, there is a need for the healthcare
staff to create risk assessment and management plan that can assist the patient get better.
A big proportion of patients who commit suicide are seen to have psychiatric disorders at the
time of their death. It is therefore essential for the healthcare practitioners to recognize the
signs and symptoms of the psychiatric disorder that is usually connected with suicide. This
can be done by the healthcare professionals by deciding the magnitude of suicidal thinking in
the patients in order to provide appropriate therapy.
Discussion
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
A very nice therapeutic relationship with the client was created by the health care
staff. This helped the client understand how much stress she experienced as her baby was
admitted to the Intensive Neonatal Care Unit (NICU). At that moment, too, her husband was
not present with her and this was a enormous part of her life's stress. The health professional
very beautifully connected the lack of assistance in her lives with the level of depression she
was experiencing (Al Maghaireh et al., 2016). This helped healthcare staff show a patient-
centered strategy that is much needed for parents whose kids are admitted to the NICU. For
the parents, patient-centered strategy is very essential because they tend to be at a critical
mental level that may hamper their mental peace and trigger anxiety and panic attacks

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(Russell eta l., 2014). A child's admission to NICU is very painful for both parents as they
feel isolated when they are at the hospital with the kids. The health care practitioner showed
consideration, empathy and genuineness while speaking to the client as she asked her
questions such as whether the client was tired or not as she was waiting for the whole day at
NICU. This created a feeling of confidence in the client's mind as she could feel that the
counsellor was truly worried about her. The counsellor even proposed that the client should
call someone from their family and friends who could comprehend her condition and even
emotionally help her through these stressful weeks and months when her child was admitted
to the hospital (Al Maghaireh et al., 2016).
The practitioner's body language used was very congruent. It showed that the
healthcare personnel were concerned about the situation of the client and wanted to assist her.
That's why she even gave some suggestions that could lead to a reduction in the depression
the client is facing. The staff also used a number of skills to effectively communicate with the
client, as they asked the clients a number of questions and also gave some advice that could
help her out of the stress (Ramezani et al., 2014). At the moment of counselling, there were
no noise obstacles that could interfere with efficient interaction as the health professional was
highly ethically skilled and had any preconceived concept about the customer. This assisted
her to create a customer bond as there was no psychological, private, physical or
physiological obstacle between them. This made communications even more efficient.
If I were the health practitioner then I would have held a periodic conference between
the nursing employees working at the NICU and also between the parents as this would be
useful to both of them. In this manner, the employees can interact regularly with the parents
and the parents can also understand their child's advancement (Schulman et al., 2015). If
there was a need to develop cultural sensitivity then I would have respected their views and
traditions to prevent it from becoming an obstacle to the child's therapy. Cultural skills in

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nursing need to be developed (Hsieh et al., 2014). The one thing I learned about the
communication skills in the practice of healthcare is the need and importance to address the
problems and demands of the patient or client. In this respect, I need to stay much more
attentive as the therapy plan must be in line with the patient's or client's demands and should
also be recognized by them. It should not be about the disease alone but also about the
patients (Busse et al., 2013).
Discharge Planning
A health practitioner's role in preparing a scheduling for discharge is very essential.
They tend to assist patients who are suicidal or hospitalized after being tried at the hospital.
The health professional assists patients with suicide prevention and also prevents them from
committing any further suicidal attempts (De Santis et al., 2015). The health professional
assists patients with suicide prevention and also prevents them from committing any further
suicidal attempts. Suicide is one of the most prevalent causes of death among young people
as well as among depressed people. So the health care practitioner attempted to comfort the
client and began a very close relationship with the client so that they could feel very linked to
their social environment and the counsellor while speaking about the different parts of their
lives (Bickley et al., 2013).
The health professional attempted to provide the patient with a patient-centered
strategy so that they could feel that the concern she showed was real and she was really
interested in her life issues. The patient-centered strategy to suicidal patients is very essential
because it can assist patients to diagnose the phase of depression they were experiencing
(Ghanbari et al., 2016). The sort of strategy the health professional gives to the client mostly
relies on the patient's acceptance of the depression treatment style. The health care employees
obviously demonstrated the feeling of empathy with regard, compassion, and empathy

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towards the client. This was expressed in the healthcare practitioner's body language as it can
be seen obviously that she was very careful with the patient (Betz et al., 2016).
The approach shown by healthcare staff at the time of patient counselling was very
congruent, which defines the extent to which the language of the body matches the others.
The healthcare personnel were also became very considerate as the patient became
susceptible and this can be understood by speaking to the client (Drake et al., 2016). A
number of efficient communication skills were used by health care staffs that include
communicating well with the client. Effective communication is a very significant move for
patients who are susceptible to suicidal attempts in the counselling process. This helps to
understand their attitude to life psychologically, physiologically, socially and psychosocially
(Ghanbari et al., 2016).
There were no potential noise barriers in this communication between the counsellor
and the client as the health care practitioner asked the questions, taking into account the
sensitivity of the situation, which helped them to talk freely about the whole situation (De
Santis et al., 2015). If I were the health care professional in the scenario then I would have
asked questions about the client's life experiences as this would help the client to know the
person in the client's life who can support the client and also help them to stay safe so that the
patient does not feel isolated when they are not under the supervision of the hospital. I would
also suggest the patient to get involved with the various community groups that can help
them to remain social and connected (Betz et al., 2016).
If there had been a need to show cultural sensitivity then I would have spoken
personally about the patient if she had any such inhibitions or views that would restrict her to
discuss the situation publicly. This is very crucial because ethnic knowledge is a significant
component of the patient from a distinct cultural background and therefore may not feel

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accepted or part of culture (Bickley et al., 2013). One thing that I have learned from efficient
interaction in the healthcare system is that it is very essential for patients to be vocal about
their requirements and from a nurse's view it is essential to know, comprehend and gather the
clues that can assist identify and assess the patient's situation better (McCarthy et al., 2013).
Conclusion
Thus, the conclusion from the essay is that the patients need the assistance or help
from the healthcare personnel to perform certain tasks. The role played by the healthcare
professionals in this area is subjective as it differs according to different patients and their
needs. The essay also showed that effective communication has a very important role in
linking the healthcare practitioner and the patient. It also helps in better understanding the
situation of the patient and thus, assists the patients to undertake the right assessment therapy.

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References
Al Maghaireh, D. A. F., Abdullah, K. L., Chan, C. M., Piaw, C. Y., & Al Kawafha, M. M.
(2016). Systematic review of qualitative studies exploring parental experiences in the
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Journal of clinical nursing, 25(19-20), 2745-2756.
Betz, M. E., Wintersteen, M., Boudreaux, E. D., Brown, G., Capoccia, L., Currier, G., ... &
Moutier, C. (2016). Reducing suicide risk: challenges and opportunities in the
emergency department. Annals of emergency medicine, 68(6), 758-765.
Bickley, H., Hunt, I. M., Windfuhr, K., Shaw, J., Appleby, L., & Kapur, N. (2013). Suicide
within two weeks of discharge from psychiatric inpatient care: a case-control
study. Psychiatric Services, 64(7), 653-659.
Busse, M., Stromgren, K., Thorngate, L., & Thomas, K. A. (2013). Parents’ responses to
stress in the neonatal intensive care unit. Critical Care Nurse, 33(4), 52-59.
De Santis, M. L., Myrick, H., Lamis, D. A., Pelic, C. P., Rhue, C., & York, J. (2015).
Suicide-specific safety in the inpatient psychiatric unit. Issues in mental health
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Drake, S. A., Garza, B., Cron, S. G., & Wolf, D. A. (2016). Suicide within 72 hours after
discharge from health care settings: Decedent characteristics. The American journal of
forensic medicine and pathology, 37(1), 32-34.
Ghanbari, B., Malakouti, S. K., Nojomi, M., Alavi, K., & Khaleghparast, S. (2016). Suicide
prevention and follow-up services: a narrative review. Global journal of health
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Hsieh, E. M., Hornik, C. P., Clark, R. H., Laughon, M. M., Benjamin Jr, D. K., & Smith, P.
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system. American journal of public health, 103(12), 2261-2266.
Ramezani, T., Shirazi, Z. H., Sarvestani, R. S., & Moattari, M. (2014). Family-centered care
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based nursing and midwifery, 2(4), 268.
Russell, G., Sawyer, A., Rabe, H., Abbott, J., Gyte, G., Duley, L., & Ayers, S. (2014).
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Schulman, J., Dimand, R. J., Lee, H. C., Duenas, G. V., Bennett, M. V., & Gould, J. B.
(2015). Neonatal intensive care unit antibiotic use. Pediatrics, 135(5), 826-833.

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