NURSING COMMUNICATION 1: Analysis of Interview Techniques

This essay provides an analysis of key communication elements in nursing, specifically focusing on questioning styles, body language, and empathy as demonstrated in a nurse-patient interview. It highlights the importance of open-ended questions in gathering comprehensive patient information and fostering a strong nurse-patient relationship. The essay also explores the impact of non-verbal communication, including body posture, eye contact, and facial expressions, on the effectiveness of the interview. Furthermore, the role of empathy in building trust and understanding the patient's emotional state is examined, emphasizing its significance in providing holistic care. The conclusion underscores the value of well-developed communication skills for nurses in ensuring accurate patient assessment, promoting patient comfort, and facilitating effective treatment.

Running Head: NURSING COMMUNICATION 0
Communication
for Nurses and
Midwives

NURSING COMMUNICATION 1
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Analysis the Theory of Questioning styles................................................................................2
Analysis the Theory of Body Language.....................................................................................4
Analysis the Theory of Empathy................................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
Bibliography...............................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Communication is a process of exchanging information between two or more persons
through various mediums (Ruesch, Bateson, Combs, & Pinsker, 2017). Good communication
skills for Nurses and Midwives is an important aspect of understanding the medical
necessities of the patient (Crawford, Candlin, & Roger, 2017). It comprises of non-verbal,
listening, writing, presentation and verbal skills. With the help of these skills, nurses can
convey and examine all the significant information of the patients in the time of penetrating
stress. It helps in the entire healthcare of a patient (Kemp , Dibley, & Greveson, 2018).
This essay primarily focuses on the Questioning style, Body language and Empathy of
a nurse as an interviewer to a patient. These terms define the ability of the nurses and by
developed these terms, they can be a prominent assistant to both hospitals and patients.
Nursing communication is vital to the patients and their medication, as it presents the
virtuous verbal and written statement. Well trained nurses are helpful for patients, as they can
also educate them regarding health issues.
Analysis the Theory of Questioning styles
Questioning styles are mainly of two types in a nurse-patient interview, first is open-
ended questions style and second is closed questions style. In open-ended questions, patients
can give their opinions and express their feelings. From open-ended questions, the
interviewer can gather more information about the patient (Dures, Fraser, & Almeida, 2017).
A good understanding between nurse and patient can be encouraged by this style of
questioning. Patients feel that the interviewer is interested in the conversation. On the other
side, closed questions are ‘yes-no’ type answer questions or a patient can answer in only one-

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two words. This style of questioning limits the understanding of the nurse and the patient. It
stops the patient to elaborate concern about issues and feelings (Torres-Soto, 2019).
Open-ended questions are good for the nurse-patient interview. Here is an example of
open-ended questioning style in a conversation:
Interviewer ‘Why did you come here today? What made you visit the hospital today?
Patient ‘Actually I fell down yesterday. I felt severe pain in my ankle so I could not
do anything. I could not take care of my kid. Then I decided to see a doctor.
Interviewer ‘Okay, which ankle is that? Is it right or…’
Patient ‘It is a right foot.’
Interviewer ‘Right! Okay, in the right foot! Okay, so when you fall down were there
anyone at home to assist you?’
Patient ‘Fortunately my husband was with me, he helped me a lot.’ (2.22)
In the example of the conversation given above the interviewer asked the patient an
open-ended question which begins with the word ‘why’ and ‘what’. Open-ended questions
should be related to the conversation as it is in the given example. It can help in heartening
the persons and motivated them to recognize the issue areas. A sequence of questions in a
health assessment always helps the patient in open up with the interviewer. Recurrence of the
statement of a patient is called echoing technique and it helps use verbal communications
(Ross & Castle Bell, 2017). In the conversation given as an example, the interviewer has used
the word ‘okay’ which is also comes in echoing technique. There is a high risk to get valuable
information from the patient if the interviewer only asks closed questions that answer only

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‘yes’ or ‘no’. If the interviewer asks the patient about having any pain, there is a chance to
answer ‘no’ in reply. It can cause the missing description of the pain felt by the patient.
Analysis the Theory of Body Language
Body language has a significant impact on communication. It is also termed as non-
verbal communication. Body language shows interest and involvement in the communication
of the interviewer. Even when the interviewer says everything right and to the point, the main
concept and message of the interview can be mislaid if body language not appears good.
Body language comes in three types, first is presented with body parts, second is intent which
includes blinking eyes and showing finger, and third is tone of voice. Body language in
reference to body parts includes the attitude, facial appearance, touch and eye contact which
should be matched with the words of the conversation (Beattie, 2016). Body posture is all
about how a person sits and stand. An interviewer should not be uneasy and annoyed but
should be calm and relaxed. A person should not show the desperation to hurry and should
not be busy in other work.
In some culture, eye contact signs as rudeness. It is important to know the culture of a
patient first and then communicate. Eye contact should be good and not resembles gazing.
Facial expressions show what a person thinks while talking with someone. Expressions of the
face should be in limitation as patients will not encourage with the expressions while
communicating (West, Copland, & Arnott, 2018). A light touch to the hand of a person can
show concern and warmth. Before doing this one should aware of the culture of a person.
One should take permission before touch someone.
Body language plays an essential part in communication. Here is an example of body
language used in a conversation:
Interviewer ‘Do you have any special specific cultural requirements?’

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Patient ‘Actually I am a Cristian.’
Interviewer ‘That is good’
Patient ‘I am not a kinfolk’
Interviewer ‘Okay! that is good, that is good.’
Patient ‘Every day I am doing my prayer. I go to the church.’ (6.41)
In the above conversation, the interviewer showing interest in the communication and
replied continue to the patient. This is reflected as a good practice of body language in
communication. Asking about the culture of a patient is a good thing, so one can do non-
verbal communication according to the culture of a person. Appearance, expressions and
voice tone can easily convey what one is trying to say. The pitch and tone of the voice have a
powerful effect on the statement. The conversation given above is in a polite tone, as the
words used in it reflect the well-mannered tone. Some gestures and careful movements, like
pointing and waving, are important ways of communication without the use of words (Egede-
Nissen, Jakobsen, & Sørlie, 2017).
Analysis the Theory of Empathy
Empathy is all about feelings, bond and trust create and convey with someone.
Empathy is not only going with bad things it can also go with great things. It is beyond the
thinking, logical mind and rationality (Sunderland & Armstrong, 2019). It envelops the state
and emotion of the other person. Empathy is crucial in health assessments. It can demonstrate
the understanding and care of the experience of a patient. It establishes trust between the
nurse and the patient. A nurse should also reassure that the emotions and problems of a
patient are understood. In term of empathy, a nurse places itself in the situation of the patient
(Au, 2019). There are so many ways to show empathy. These ways depend on the situation of

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a particular patient. Nodding head, a follow-up question or a statement can express empathy.
An empathetic statement is very different from the assumption of the feeling of a patient.
Role of empathy is very important in the communication of nurse and patient. Here is
an example of empathy in a conversation:
Interviewer ‘When you fall down were there anyone at home to assist you?’
Patient ‘Fortunately my husband was with me, he helped me a lot.’
Interviewer ‘He helped you. So, after that you had severe pain, how do you rate your
pain? Zero is no pain and ten is maximum pain. So’ how do you rate your pain?’
Patient ‘At that time I had a severe pain but now its not. I do some treatment like I put
some hot water on it and after that I got relief. Now I do not have a pain but when I am
walking, I got a pain.’
Interviewer ‘Okay, do not worry we will do something for that. We will see a doctor;
he will be delivered you some medicine for that.’
Patient ‘Thank you.’ (2.49)
Here, the interviewer showing empathy to the patient, by asking about prior
assistance, done by someone for the problem, in the first place. Then the interviewer asked
about the level of pain and told the patient not to be worried and also assured for further
treatment as required. Nurses can build trust with the patient and without using sympathetic
words feel the situation of the patient. Empathy enthusiastically connects the nurses with the
patients and they feel the problem of the patient by seeing themselves in the place of the
individual. It helps in the full medication requirement of the person (Gould, Mann, & Martin,
2018).

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Conclusion
Communication is the most significant part of life. Good conversation between a
nurse and a patient creates a strong bond between the patient and the nurse. It can help in the
remedy, as the patient feels comfortable in sharing the health issue. The virtuous verbal and
written statement help in the proper medication of the patient. Nurses with great knowledge
and good training can also educate the patients regarding health issues. Questioning style,
body language and empathy are the main aspects which can help to make the communication
of the nurses or midwives effective for the treatment of the patient. Open-ended questions
make the patient say a lot about the particular problem. So, a nurse should use them in the
conversation. Non-verbal conversation through the movements of body parts is equally
important as the verbal conversation is. Empathy in communication helps the nurses and
patients to connect in terms of trust and feelings. Effective communication of nurses is good
for both the patient and for the hospital.

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References
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Practices for More Responsive and Trusting Encounters. The Qualitative Report,
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Ruesch, J., Bateson, G., Combs, G., & Pinsker, E. C. (2017). Communication: The social
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