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Effective communication skills in nursing
Journey to becoming a good nurse
Effective communication skills in nursing
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Qualities of A Successful Nurse In this modern day and age, registered nursing has rapidly sky-rocketed up the ideal career charts, and is becoming a very prominent career. Far too often it becomes easy to just focus on the potential salary you will make. However, it is important to remember that to be a successful nurse you need to have physical endurance, great communication skills, and be adaptive to change. First, nursing is no where close to being the average everyday desk job. A nurse is basically a doctors "Right Hand Man", because they are responsible for following all of the doctor's orders and instructions. Being physically fit is an important quality to have in a successful nurse. There is a possibility that a nurse will have a patient larger than them, and they may have to lift the patient without any help. Also, there is a chance that a patient will fall or is falling around you, and the nurse is responsible for catching them. It is vital to always be prompt in nursing, because everyday is different, and it is good to always be prepared. The typical shift for a nurse is anywhere from ten to twelve hours a day. It is always beneficial to wear proper fitting clothes and most definitely comfortable shoes, because a nurse is on their feet for long periods of time. Although a nurse receives a set schedule, it is important to realize you may have to work longer than originally planned. Some of the most obvious reasons for changes in the schedule is a short staff, being scheduled to stay on-call, or if you are assisting in surgery. Most importantly, having great communication skills is key in order to be a great nurse. Strong communication skills are a basic foundation for any career, but for a nurse it is one of the mo... ... middle of paper ... ...finitely not the average job with a set in stone eight to twelve hour shift. Nurses have to understand that even though they may be scheduled for a ten hour shift, there is almost always a possibility that they will have to work longer. To conclude, to be a successful nurse there are a lot of special qualities needed to provide complete care to a patient. This essay discussed three common qualities that can be seen in modern day nurses. Physical endurance is a good quality for nurses to have, because their job involves a lot of standing and physical activity. Great communication skills are especially important, because it enables you to provide the best complete care of a patient, and their family. Being adaptive to change is the last quality discussed in this essay. It is a good quality to have, because it provides the flexibility needed to be a successful nurse.
The data collected was the duration of scheduled and actual work hours per shift which was calculated and aggregated per nurse and per week. A shift a RN worked was classified as an overtime shift if the actual working hours were longer than the scheduled hours. We also analyzed the associations between errors (or near errors), work hours, and overtime. Regression models were performed to assess if working more than twelve hour shifts would increase the probability of making one or more errors (or near errors) in a week long period.
In a hospital patients are cared for around the clock, twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. Hospital RN schedules are set up on rotation shifts meaning you might have to work night or days, holidays, and/or weekends (“Job…”). In a doctor’s office, school, or health center regular business hours are normally maintained (“Job…”). If an RN works for a home health care agency then their routine patient visits are mostly scheduled during business hours. However, if a nurse is on call they may be paged and required to make a visit on any day, at any time.
A considerable amount of literature has been published on the impact of working hours (8 vs. 12 hour shifts) on fatigue among the nurses. These studies revealed that twelve-hour shifts increase the risk of fatigue, reduce the level of alertness and performance, and therefore reduce the safety aspect compared to eight-hour shifts (Mitchell and Williamson, 1997; Dorrian et al., 2006; Dembe et al., 2009; Tasto et al., 1978). Mills et al. (1982) found that the risk of fatigues and performance errors are associated with the 12-hour shifts. Beside this, Jostone et al. (2002) revealed that nurses who are working for long hours are providing hasty performance with increased possibility of errors.
...ork shifts depending on their ability. In addition, it is important for nurses to understand that it is their ethical responsibility to only practice when they are fit to do so. Moreover, nurses should take responsibility for self care and take adequate time to rest and recover after shifts. In general, nurses should be aware of their mental and physical capabilities and only work when they are well enough to do so.
“Registered nurses treat patients and help prevent disease, educate patients and the public about various medical conditions and health issues, and provide advice and emotional support to patients’ family members both physically and mentally.”(Registered). It is important for the individual going into this occupation to search out the pros and cons of the different areas of nursing. Sometimes gender plays a part in choosing the specific area of an RN. For instance, the strength of males is needed in areas of physical therapy. While the gentle attributes of women are needed in the care of babies. “A nurse must like people and want to help them, and must also have self-reliance and good judgment, patience, honesty, responsibility, and ability to work easily with others.”(Jacobi). The occupation of a registered nurse includes many advantages such as having the ability to assist your family in medical needs, the salary is attractive and above the average scale, and it offers great job security.
The introduction paragraph gives information on communication and the impact that it has on patient-nurse relationships. It gives the reader an understanding of what is involved in true communication and how that it is a fundamental part of nursing and skills all nurses need. It leads those interested in delivering quality nursing to read on. Showing us the significance that communication makes in the
“Communication is the heart of nursing… your ability to use your growing knowledge and yourself as an instrument of care and caring and compassion” (Koerner, 2010, as cited in Balzer-Riley, 2012, p. 2). The knowledge base which Koerner is referring to includes important concepts such as communication, assertiveness, responsibility and caring (Balzer-Riley, 2012). Furthermore, communication is complex. It includes communication with patients, patient families, doctors, co-workers, nurse managers and many others. Due to those concepts and the variety of people involved, barriers and issues are present. Knowing how to communicate efficiently can be difficult.
In nursing practice, communication is essential, and good communication skills are paramount in the development of a therapeutic nurse/patient relationship. This aim of this essay is to discuss the importance of communication in nursing, demonstrating how effective communication facilitates a therapeutic nurse/patient relationship. This will be achieved by providing a definition of communication, making reference to models of communication and explaining how different types of communication skills can be used in practise.
This chapter has introduced the issues of shift work and its impact on the workers such as fatigue and sleep. It has given a brief justification for the present review and presented the aim and objectives. The following chapter will provide a more in-depth discussion of the literature review, presenting more about the shift work, working hours, and the researches have been done on nurse’s physical health and wellbeing, and job satisfaction.
Nursing is a great career choice that can be very rewarding and has many benefits that come with the job. One downside to nursing is the scheduling because it runs on a shift system, it can lead to many problems. Nurses often have to work long hours, that can last sometimes more than twelve hours at a time. Working this long can lead to problems on the job, as well as health problems and trouble sleeping.
Nurses today need to have excellent communication skills. Receiving information from patients is the most important aspect of nursing. If nurses are unable to communicate with their patient then they would not be able to have a relationship with them. Communication is where two or more people interact with each other, by using sounds and words, this is verbal communication. Some individuals have different behaviors where they try to express themselves to others without using spoken words, this is non verbal communication. Once nurses have the proper communication tools, techniques and evidence based practice, when communicating with their patient, they would get the necessary information needed from the patient to properly diagnosis them.
12-Hour Shifts and Nurse Fatigue” looked at 12-hour shifts compared to 8 hours and what effects fatigue from shifts can play. Some of the advantages of the longer shift for nurses is that it decreases the time the nurse spends traveling to and from the hospital, the cost for someone to watch their child because they are working fewer days; it also allows them to hold multiple jobs. It also can decrease hand-off errors as there due there only being two per 24 hours which might help to prevent errors. Other services also work more than 8 hours such as truck drivers, railroad workers, aviation, and the military. All of these have rules for the amount of time they are allowed to be working or deployed. ⁵“The Department of Transportation [DOT) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) each regulates the duty schedules for pilots, air traffic controllers, engineers, flight attendants, air mechanics, and other employees to maintain airline safety standards and protect the crew and passengers.” Truck drivers also have a set number of hours that they are allowed to work straight before they are mandated to take a break or stop. ⁶“There is not state or federal regulation of the hours that a nurse may work, although some states have passed legislation prohibiting mandatory overtime.” Facilities continue to offer, and some require nurses to work 12-hour shifts, even though there is evidence that shows adverse outcomes for patients. A study that was conducted
This literature review was conducted to determine the impact on the health status of registered nurses who work rotating shifts compared to those who work one consistent shift. Hans Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome theory identified three stages of a stress response: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. Rotating shift work is an impactful stressor on the human body, and the nurses who follow these fluctuating schedules endure Selye’s three stages of responding to stress. The four articles that were reviewed exposed similar themes regarding the effects of rotating shift work. Poor sleep quality, chronic fatigue, illness, biochemical changes, and safety concerns are all consequences of the harsh nature of rotating shift work. It has been suggested that recovery time be allotted to allow nurses to recuperate between the changing of shifts. Nursing care has been and will continue to be an around the clock necessity. It is vital to prioritize the physical and mental well being of nurses so they may provide the highest quality of safe patient care
Nursing and Qualities That I Possess to become a Good Nurse Nursing is the act of safely caring, protecting and improving our clients’/patients’ health and ability without causing any further harm or disability to them. Our primary goal is to restore and maintain good health physically, spiritually and psychologically. It is a science, such that one has to apply the nursing knowledge and technical aspects of practice. However, it is important to incorporate the act of patient-centered care, which is defined according to QSEN/NOF, as holistic care that recognizes the patient as the source of control and full-partner in providing compassionate and coordinated care with respect for the patient’s desire, values, needs and preferences. It has to incorporate with the nurse’s personality, i.e., certain qualities that the individual possess.
Nurses generally work out of hospitals or doctors offices. Some nurses work out of schools or the patient´s homes. The work hours for nurses in hospitals can vary from 2 a.m to 2 p.m but nurses the