Effective Communication In Nursing Case Study

Individual care needs are vast and ever changing. Each patient has their own set of experiences, backgrounds, values and beliefs that will affect their care needs. By understanding this concept, a nurse is able to reach the core of how and why a patient has come into their care, and implement interventions in alignment with the patients own background to ensure their return into everyday life. They make up the very fundamentals of nursing and so, there importance must be known. Therapeutic relationships and caring attributes are a strong theme within patient health needs, as they are built on the development of goal-directed relationships through communication at an emotional level. The development of therapeutic relationships and its importance to individual care needs will be explored in relation to the ANMC domain “collaborative and therapeutic practice” and video “Effective communication in nursing”. The topics of patient care, the nurse and professional image and behaviour and health outcomes will further assist in understanding the impact therapeutic relationships have on meeting patient needs.

Preheim, Armstrong and Barton (2009) suggest that the core of patient care is the therapeutic relationship between nurse and patient. When done effectively with a caring attitude, individual patient needs are verbalised, trust is formed and collaborative health decisions can be made. Webster (2013) explains that therapeutic relationships include the demonstration of respect and compassion while listening to the patient. Webb (2011) explains that the nurse has a responsibility to interact, educate, and share information while genuinely having the patient’s best interests at the heart of the care. However as seen in the video, inef...

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...’s video. The Registered Nurse inappropriately uses technology that restricts communication between the patient and nurse. It is seen that the RN picks up his mobile phone for a personal phone call midway through a health assessment and is also on Facebook while the patient expressed his concerns. These actions were unprofessional and from a legal standpoint, the RN did not comply with the ANMC standard 9.2. This standard reports that Registered Nurses should communicate effectively with patients to facilitate individualized care. Its importance to individual patient needs lies within research suggesting that lack of patient communication is related to decreased levels of patient compliance in their own care (Clickner, & Shirey, 2013). Effectively this leads to an attitude of mistrust towards nurses and inhibits their ability to facilitate individual patient care.