Effective Communication Strategies in Nursing: Kirra's Case

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Added on 2022/12/23

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This case study analyzes communication strategies and barriers in nursing, using Kirra's case as a focal point. It explores methods for establishing rapport with patients, including maintaining eye contact, open communication, expressing empathy, and mirroring. The paper details communication strategies such as creating a conducive environment, using non-verbal cues, inclusive communication, and active listening. It also identifies and addresses potential communication barriers, including psychological, socio-cultural, gender, and health literacy issues. Ethical considerations, such as autonomy and beneficence, are discussed, along with interprofessional communication challenges. The solution provides a comprehensive overview of effective communication in nursing practice, emphasizing the importance of understanding and overcoming obstacles to improve patient care and build lasting relationships. The paper provides a detailed analysis of how to overcome communication barriers and create a better environment for patients to discuss their health issues.

Running head: Communication for nursing 1
Communication for nursing
Name
Institution

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Communication for nursing 2
Communication for nursing
Effective communication is very essential in nursing as it enhances patient satisfaction. It
is a tool that helps nurses to offer great care to the patients. Moreover, effective communication
helps in creating lasting relationships between the healthcare practitioners and patients. This
paper discusses different aspects of communication in nursing in regards to Kirra’s case.
How to develop a rapport with a patient
Good rapport has the ability to connect the nurse to the patient thereby improving the
quality of care. Creating a good rapport with the patient is very essential as it helps in creating a
close and harmonious relationship between the nurse and the patient. I therefore believe that
creating a good rapport with Kirra will enable me understand her feelings and communicate
effectively with her. To make Kirra feel more comfortable and open up more when talking to me,
creating trust and familiarity is of great essence. There are different ways to keep the patient in
good spirits and cooperative.
Maintaining Eye Contact
Eye contact maintenance helps in communicating with compassion and care. It is also an
indication that one is focused and paying attention. I will therefore maintain eye contact when
communicating with Kirra so that she may know that I am paying attention to her. I believe eye
contact and social touch will connect me with Kirra as well as communicate understanding.
Use Open Communication
Building a rapport with patient depends on the ability of the nurse to effectively
communicate. Having an open communication with the patient helps the nurse to understand the

Communication for nursing 3
patient’s communication preferences and state of mind. Moreover, open communication will
give the patient the chance to participate in their own well-being hence a good way of creating
rapport. Kourkouta and Papathanasiou, (2014) argue that effective communication between the
nurse and patient is important for the success of individualized care. Therefore, I believe having
an open communication with Kirra with help in creating a good rapport as when will be able to
understand what needs to be done in order to ensure that she is healthy.
Express Empathy
Empathy allows the nurse to understand the situation and feelings of the patient. By
understanding the perspectives of Kirra and recognizing her emotions without being
overwhelmed with own emotions will enable me to communicate and act on her understanding.
Empathy will also help me make objective decisions while advocating for Kirra, thereby creating
a rapport.
Mirror and Watch
Matching the demeanor, disposition and rhythm of the patient quickly establishes rapport.
I will therefore mirror and match with Kirra by observing her body language, adopting her
temperament, using similar language as well as matching with her speech patterns. I believe this
will help me become attuned to her more so when addressing difficult questions.
Communication Strategies
Communications strategies entail the blueprints of how information, thoughts and
feelings should be exchanged. Good communication with patients is likely to create lasting
relationships. According to Broyles, Tate, and Happ, (2012), when communicating with the

Communication for nursing 4
patient, the nurse should be clear, concise and considerate. Therefore, the strategies that I will
use to effectively communicate with Kirra include:
Creating A Conducive Environment
Creating a conducive communication environment is very crucial in enabling effective
communication. A conducive environment is devoid of judgements, intimidations and emotional
thereby enhancing free exchange of information. I will implement this strategy by trying to be
culturally sensitive in my choice of words and avoiding language that may hurt Kirra’s feelings
and emotions.
Use of non-verbal cues
Non-verbal communication cues like body language and posture are also used to convey
a message. Although these cues are usually unintended, they may sometimes come to the front
during emotional and expressive expressions. I will therefore make sure that I appropriately use
these cues so that the patient may feel at ease. For instance, I will nod my head when the patient
is talking and maintain eye contact so that she may know that I am paying attention to what she
is saying.
Inclusive communication
Inclusive communication is a strategy that seeks to create a supportive and effective
communication environment where one understands to be understood. In this case, I will employ
inclusive communication to encourage to patient to open up further. I will show genuine and
authentic interest in her health concerns by asking relevant questions which will make her feel
loved and cared for.

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Communication for nursing 5
Focus on active listening
Active listening is very essential more so when engaging in one on one communication.
Active listening enhances the ability of the nurse to absorb and identify the important
information from the patient. According to Jahromi, Tabatabaee, Abdar, and Rajabi (2016),
active listening helps reduce unintended medical errors. I will therefore employ this strategy by
guiding the conversation, summarizing what thee patient is saying and asking questions as well
as encouraging the patient to give feedback. This will allow effective communication as it is a
sign of respect to the patient.
Barriers of Effective Communication
The process of communication has several barriers that may lead to misunderstanding or
information distortion. These barriers can cause harm to the patient or even lead to low quality
care. It is thus important to come up with strategies to help overcome such barriers when they
arise at any point of communication between the nurse and the patient.
Psychological Barriers
The psychological state of a patient has the capability to hinder communication between the
patient and the physician. During my communication with Kirra, I am likely to encounter this
barrier because she feels sad and a great sense of loss. Emotions like fear, mistrust, confusion
and nervousness are likely to make Kirra talk less or even fail to talk at all. These emotions are
difficult to manage sometimes and are likely to limit the ease of communication. To overcome
this barrier,
Socio-Cultural Factors

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Socio-cultural differences can be an obstruction to effective communication. Socio-
cultural factors are man-made constructs which originates from social norms and cultural values
and beliefs (Savolainen, 2016). I am likely to encounter this barrier because Kirra has been
brought up in different cultures that have shaped her beliefs. Since we are not from the same
social background and culture, achieving regularity and understanding may be hindered. To
overcome this barrier, I will keep an open mind and appreciate her culture. To achieve this, I will
communicate to her in a manner that recognizes her culture by avoiding judgmental and
offensive words that may lead to mistrust and creation of boundaries.
Gender Barriers
The social stereotypes, assumed gender roles and interpersonal differences can contribute
to communication barrier between people of different sexes. Norouzinia, Aghabarari, Shiri,
Karimi, and Samami (2016) argue that gender disparity makes patient shy off from discussing all
their problems. In this situation, I am likely to face gender barriers since I am male and Kirra is a
female. To overcome this barrier, I will use a plain language which does not cause any prejudice.
Health Literacy Barriers
Most patients do not have the capacity to obtain, process and understand the basic health
information and services. This is a barrier to effective healthcare. I am likely to encounter this
barrier because Kirra is not willing to talk and may hide important information which may
influence my therapeutic decision. Since she is not willing to talk, the interventions that I may
employ on her may not be successful. To overcome this barrier, I will avoid the use of jargon and
explain to her the importance of giving her health information.

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Ethical Considerations
The ethical considerations in this situation include autonomy, beneficence, informed
consent, and voluntary participation. Beneficence requires the nurse to have compassion and take
positive action towards helping the patient, autonomy requires the nurse to respect the wishes of
the patient even they don not agree with them while informed consent is permission granted by
the patient to the nurse allowing for treatment. Voluntary participation on the other hand
requires the nurse to respect the privacy of the patient.
Other Health Professionals
The healthcare professionals I would communicate regarding Kirra’s situation are
occupational therapists so that they may formulate a rehabilitation plan for Kirra, psychiatrists so
that they may provide talking therapies and prescribe medication and psychologists who will
provide in-depth assessment of Kirra’s behavior and brain functioning.
The ethical considerations present when communicating with other health professionals
regarding Kirra’s situation include totality and integrity, justice, fidelity and nonmaleficence.
Challenges of Interprofessional Communication
The challenges likely to be faced in the interprofessional communication include differences in
personality, hierarchy, generational differences, differences in personal values and expectations,
differences in requirements and professional qualifications, emphasizing on rapid decision
making as well as variation in the levels of preparation and statuses. According to Ball, Balogh,
and Miller, (2015), the concerns in regards to clinical responsibility, differences in schedules and

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Communication for nursing 8
professional routines may hinder interprofessional communication. Moreover, history of
interprofessional and intraprofessional wrangles are also likely to be a challenge.
Conclusion
In nursing, it is important to create a rapport with the patients so that they may be open to
discussing their health situations. Moreover, a good rapport will help build a mutual trust as well
as an environment of mutual understanding. It is therefore important to consider the different
communication strategies as well as the factors that can hinder communication with the patient
and the approaches to counter the barriers.

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References
Albahri, A. H., Abushibs, A. S., & Abushibs, N. S. (2018). Barriers to effective communication
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Ball, J., Balogh, E., & Miller, B. T. (Eds.). (2015). Improving diagnosis in health care. National
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Broyles, L. M., Tate, J. A., & Happ, M. B. (2012). Use of augmentative and alternative
communication strategies by family members in the intensive care unit. American journal
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Jahromi, V. K., Tabatabaee, S. S., Abdar, Z. E., & Rajabi, M. (2016). Active listening: The key
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Kourkouta, L., & Papathanasiou, I. V. (2014). Communication in nursing practice. Materia
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Norouzinia, R., Aghabarari, M., Shiri, M., Karimi, M., & Samami, E. (2016). Communication
barriers perceived by nurses and patients. Global journal of health science, 8(6), 65.

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Savolainen, R. (2016). Approaches to socio-cultural barriers to information seeking. Library &
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