Communication and Interpersonal Skills

Effective communication and interaction between a nurse and the patient is important in healthcare. It is often linked to desirable outcomes associated with patient compliance with medical advice and patient satisfaction. For this to be achieved, nurses need to understand and assist their patients while demonstrating kindness, courtesy and sincerity. They are also expected to devote some time to interact and communicate with their patients and meet patients’ communication needs. In mental health, therapeutic communication enables practitioners to establish good relations with their clients, to identify patients’ worries and needs and determine their perceptions (Silverman, Kurtz and Draper 2016).

Effective Communication and Interaction

Carl Roger’s Person-Centered Model

This model uses an approach that considers the individual clients as subjects of their own therapy. According to Roger, a person is endowed with the strength of self-actualization upon using this model. With this personal perception of the power they hold, they can provide a solution for difficult conditions facing them as long as there is an enabling external environment. A conducive atmosphere is created by smooth interactions and communication between practitioners and patients. This implies that each individual has the tendency to develop and reach a particular level of actualization. A conducive and facilitating environment is required to have a person assess their self-defeating characters and level of wisdom they possess as well as having an effective interaction with the therapist. For this to be a success, Rogers identifies three conditions: Congruence, Empathy and Unconditional Positive Regard (Bach and Grant 2015).

Congruence

According to Rogers, a therapist ought to have a genuine attitude towards a client’s thoughts and feelings and should be willing to help under all circumstances. They are expected to be always transparent and never to hold the idea that they are superior to their clients. In my own opinion, such an attitude raises a high level of confidence and self-esteem in a patient’s judgment of self. Consequently, a trusting relationship with the therapist is fostered. Disregarding this would only render the interaction process ineffective (Rogers 2013).

Unconditional Positive Regard

In his theory, Rogers said that the therapist should always be non-judgmental and have complete acceptance of the client’s feelings and perception of the world. This should be devoid of whatever differences that could be existing between them socially or culturally. It requires a health practitioner to have unconditional acceptance of a client’s values, behaviors and desires and experience them regardless of their crimes, flaws and moral disparities (McCabe and Timmins 2013).

Empathy

This refers to the ability of a therapist to have some positive sensitivity and appreciation towards a client’s world, their perception of recovery and communicating their feelings to the client. This helps in conveying a special meaning of their relationship to the client and eventually strengthening their relationship towards a therapeutic movement.A nurse can apply this model by actively listening to a client through all forms of bodily, verbal and non-verbal communications (Bryan,Lindo, Anderson-Johnson and Weaver 2015).

Brief, Ordinary, Effective Model by Crawford, Brown and Boham.

This model utilizes an approach that makes any form of brief communication that appears small externally mean so much more in the inside. Brief interactions such as a smile, a few words or a mere greeting may have a great impact on the subjective being. The well-being of the client is enhanced by relatively common and simple communicative actions. The model suggests that a healthcare provider should focus on brief, ordinary and effective forms of communications.A typical healthcare setting is often constrained by time but brief communication entails the use of whatever time one has to make communication and interaction effective.  Brief form of communications could entail nodding, positive body language, small talk, smiling, gestures and friendly eye contact. For every interaction, however minimal, it creates a bigger psychological effect on a person. Such interactions give patients an opportunity to feel included and this results in a warm approach (Crawford, Brown, Kvangarsnesand Gilbert 2014).

The ordinary forms of communication create, maintain and eliminate therapeutic relations with clients, terminate misunderstandings brought about by jargon and promote quality in interaction. A sense of familiarity and ordinariness makes a patient’s surroundings in a healthcare facility to be homelier. For instance, the use of colloquial language by a nurse shows the patient that they too are human, an aspect that patients regard highly. A nurse using pragmatic and generic communication presents such an environment without posing any threat to a patient. They should display human qualities frequently while interacting with a patient such as touch and active listening. Further, the effective forms result into delivering accurate advice or information, favorable outcomes from patient satisfaction and build constructive interactions (Dryden and Mytton 2016).

This model can help impact core skills in nurses and shape their interaction with patients. For instance, a nurse can initiate and sustain a shared, polite conversation while observing turn-taking and utilization of verbal and non-verbal cues such as hand gestures, nodding and phrases like, “I see”. A nurse is also able to use language that is non-stigmatizing and can refrain from the use of descriptions or labels that belittle or alienate patients. Instead, they are able to use self-respecting and dignified language. Additionally, they can demonstrate the proper use of silence for instance in expressing feelings, reflecting, showing empathy, encouraging a response or conveying interest. Lastly, a nurse can use humorous talk to reduce stress, relax the patient, boost morale, heighten interaction or create a responsive, open social environment (Crawford, Bonham and Brown 2013).

In summary, person centered therapy identifies that each individual has a natural human inclination towards self-actualization. The theory views every person as to having a capacity and desire to change and grow. It encourages practitioners to convey empathy and unconditional positive regard to patients in a manner that does not perceive them as flawed with problematic characters. The brief, ordinary effective model focuses on making simple interactions and contact with patients even when limited by time constraints. It calls for ordinariness and familiarity as a form of communication that patients prefer since it makes nurses seem more human. Finally, effectiveness of communications is highlighted on outcomes seen in the level of patient satisfaction.

Reference:

Bach, S. and Grant, A., 2015. Communication and interpersonal skills in nursing. Learning matters.

Bryan, V.D., Lindo, J., Anderson-Johnson, P, and Weaver, S., 2015. Using Carl Rogers’ Person-Centered Model to Explain Interpersonal; Relationships at a School of Nursing. Journal of Professional Nursing, 31(2), pp. 141-148.

Crawford, P., Bonham, P. and Brown, B., 2013. Brief, ordinary and effective (BOE): A new model for health care communication. Communication in clinical settings. Nelson Thornes.

Crawford, P., Brown, B., Kvangarsnes, M. and Gilbert, P., 2014. The design of compassionate care. Journal of clinical nursing, 23(23-24), pp. 3589-3599.

Dryden, W. and Mytton, J., 2016. Four approaches to counselling and psychotherapy. Routledge.

McCabe, C. and Timmins, F., 2013. Communication skills for nursing practice. Palgrave Macmillan.

Rogers, C. R., 2013. Client-centered therapy. Current psychotherapies, p. 95.

Silverman, J., Kurtz, S. and Draper, J., 2016. Skills for communicating with patient. CRC Press.