Essay: Interpersonal Communication Skill In Nursing Career Is Crucial.

In this assessment you are given the opportunity to link your role play learning to the real world of your professional practice.

1.Reflect back to Assessment 1 in this topic. Specifically: Review your answers to points 6, 8 and 9. 

2. Critically begin to plan and prepare to integrate the surprises, challenges, adaptions and learnings from Assessment 1 into your practice. 

3. Any workplace communication situation(s) can be used for this assessment, that is, you can consider communication with staff, patients and/or family. 

4. Brainstorm your preparation

How will you apply and model your learning to others within communication situations? -

Which readings, research or literature will assist you to translate your learning into practice?

Why? (see below, Helpful Resources, and go beyond these suggestions. You may want to include literature on communication knowledge translation and/or critical reflection).

What are your goals for integrating your learning into every day communication situations? 

How will you critically evaluate your communication in your selected situation(s)? 

How will you capture your impressions?

What if your plans don't work out as you intended?

What is your back up plan? What will you do differently?

What are your resources for trying something different? 

5. Select a day or 1/2 day where you can intentionally and critically put your learning into practice. 

6. Write briefly about communication situation(s) that happened. Be as analytical as possible. Use these prompts to paint a vivid recount - who, what, where, when, why and how. 

7. What went well in your selected communication situation(s)?

8. What didn't go well?

9. Over time (one month, 6 months and twelve months) how do you plan to support your ongoing learning in communication? 

Understanding Interpersonal communication skill in nursing career

I am involved professionally as a nurse and the skills that I have managed to identify are that of interpersonal skill. As stated by Wensing Bosch and Grol (2010) interpersonal skill is important for a nursing career as it can help in making proper communication with the patients. In my case I have seen that I possess moderate communication skill. Therefore, I have decided to improve upon the communication skill so that I can continue to progress in my field in a very professional manner. I have also managed to learn that in order to improve on the nursing filed, it is necessary that I develop a friendly attitude with the patients. After the analysis of my situation I managed to gain feedback about my communication abilities so that it can help me in my quest for becoming a professional.

The reactions have been neutral and have provided me with an idea of understanding the aspects that exists while gaining the trust of the patients. As stated by Straus, Tetroe and Graham (2009) it is necessary for every nursing profession candidate to gain confidence from the patients by using ethical means. In my case ethical application of approaching the patients along with the effective use of interpersonal communication skill can help me to continue with my progress. Launder, Sauter and Fürst (2004) stated that one of the effective ways in which trust of the patients can be gained is by understanding the cultural differences that characterises one patient from another. In my case I needed to ensure that proper communication regarding cultural differences are done so that I do not violate any ethical laws.

At the same time, confidence is required to talk with the patients so that I can gain their trust. As stated by Binder (2016) development of interpersonal skills can help in me in understanding the factors that lead to gaining trust of the patients. Hence, it is necessary to learn more and developed communication skills such as understanding facial expression or be able to speak to people that are incapable of talking. Afifi (2015) stated that learning new things can help in the proper management of communication in any form of profession.

After the analysis of the reflection and the skills required for a professional career in nursing it can be said that a plan needs to be developed. These plans can help in the development of communication skills and ensure that recommendations regarding the aspect of building trusts can be made. Men (2014) stated that brainstorming can be used to develop a plan so related to the concerned topic. I have observed that in order to deal with patients it is necessary that a proper behaviour be made so that they can feel friendly. Rude behaviour can have a negative impact on the minds of the patients. Therefore, one of the activities that can be stated in the plan is that of changing the behaviour and attitude towards the patients.

Developing plans for further improvement

Another plan that can be developed is that of maintaining proper clinical standards. As stated by Doorley and Garcia (2015) a proper clinical standard can help in the development of a health care organisation. In my case, my ability to indulge in effective communication can help me to understand the situations at hand and ensure that I manage to maintain ethical principles within the work place. I can convince every patient and other employees to remain cordial with one another by providing them with the support needed for the development of the health care organisation.

Table: Development of plan from the reflection

(Source: Created by author)

In light of the development of the plans and the effective implementation of the plans, it is necessary to share an experience regarding communication experience within the workplace. As stated before, I have working in a nursing profession and thereby have to deal with patients that suffer from various diseases. As pointed out by Koschmann and McDonald (2015) every nursing professional need to ensure that a professional relationship is maintained without having any ethical biases. Therefore, in my case the experience that I would share is with that of the communication dealing with a patient suffering from chronic liver disease. As observed by Wright et al. (2014) patients suffering from chronic liver diseases can suffer from severe pain due to the destruction and regeneration of the liver.

Therefore, in this it is necessary to maintain the motivation level of the patient so that the pain caused can be curbed. Hence, a healthy relationship needed to be made with the patient by providing them with the proper support required for the patient to recover. In my case, I had adopted various innovative means to continue with providing support to the patient. Hence, the communication skill that was adopted for this case included understanding the demands of the patients and the manner in which I can help them. I managed to convince the patient about maintaining a proper diet by providing the patient with the necessary trust of understanding the disease. As stated by Austin and Pinkleton (2015) leading from the front can be considered as an excellent method of communicating and motivating patients as need to be encouraged about the possibility of becoming fit quickly.

Therefore, it can be said that with the application of communication skills on the patient, I managed to learn important things about people suffering from chronic liver diseases. One of the things that I learned was the fact that full support is needed for these people. Therefore, the method adopted for communication needed to ensure that the patient had complete trust in me. In this case I had ensured that I remain patient with the patient and behave in a friendly manner that included making communication personal matters of the patient. At the same time, ethical considerations related to patient and nurse relationship was maintained.

Experience in patient support

After analysing the scenario and developing plans about the manner in which effective communication can be maintained, it is necessary to understand the strengths and weakness that exist. As stated by Trittin and Schoeneborn (2017) understanding the strengths and weakness of an individual can be considered as an asset mainly because it can help in the development of the future. In my case, I have seen that my strength lies in the fact that gaining a fair amount of experience in the communication management, I can understand the scenarios that required varied communication expertise. For example, while dealing with the case of the chronic liver disease patient, I have seen that supporting them in every manner is essential for encouraging a quick recovery.

Therefore, my strength can be attributed to the knowledge that I posses which I can use to continue with the development of my profession as a nurse. At the same time, I possess the ability to understand the psychological behaviour of the patients. Trittin (2017) observed that understanding the psychology of a patient can be attributed to an effective cure of a patient. This is mainly because every patient possesses different mentality. Hence, I can understand the cultural aspects that define the mentality of the patients and take proper precautions to continue with the development of effective communication. At the same time, there are certain weaknesses that I possess, which may have a negative impact on my professional career as a nurse.

One such weakness that I possess is that my ability to make communication is limited. I possess moderate communication ability that can be considered as a negative factor. As stated by Henderson, Cheney and Weaver (2015) every professional nurse need to gain the trust of the patients by being able to communicate effectively with them. In my case, my moderate communication skill needs to be improved so that I can earn instant trust of the patients. This also affects my judgement in terms of any ethical biases that need to be withheld while making communication. Hence, it can be said that by understanding the strengths and weakness that I possess, I can develop future learning process that can help me to be manage my communication skills in an effective manner.

After analysing the requirements of the patients, it can be said that it is necessary to address the patients with care and support. As stated by Men (2014) every patient need to be treated equally and any type of demands made by them need to be fulfilled only within the rights. At the same time, it can be said that for future I need to develop my communication skills, so that I can gain the trust of the patients in a proper manner. I need to take up courses that help me in understanding the effectiveness of the communication system and the manner in which I can manage by communication with respect to that of the require and expected job roles. Hence, in future I can develop my plans for being a professional nurse with effective communication ability.

Understanding strengths and weaknesses in communication skills

At the same time, I need to ensure that I speak gently so that no negative impact can occur on the patients. During the feedback received, I have seen that my ability to speak has been met with negative criticism. A systematic process of treatment also needs to be made so that every patient can be taken care of without any biases. Therefore, it is necessary that in the future, I manage to contribute towards the development of patient safety unit and ensure that the work place possess all types of equipments that can help in the development of proper cure for the patients.

These actions undertaken can help me to continue with my progress as a professional nurse with the ability to make communications that can be trustworthy for the patients. The future development can enhance my ability as a nurse and ensure an improvement at the organisation in which I work.

Afifi, W. A. (2015). Theory of motivated information management. The International Encyclopedia of Interpersonal Communication, 1-10.

Austin, E. W., & Pinkleton, B. E. (2015). Strategic public relations management: Planning and managing effective communication campaigns. Routledge.

Binder, J. (2016). Global project management: communication, collaboration and management across borders. Routledge.

Doorley, J., & Garcia, H. F. (2015). Reputation management: The key to successful public relations and corporate communication. Routledge.

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