COMUNICATION 1 Essay

Submitted By CarzybarbsC
Words: 2244
Pages: 9

Understand why communication is important in the work setting

OUTCOME 1

1 People communicate in order to develop and maintain relationships with others; communication is vital in order to be able to give and receive information and instructions, to understand and be understood, to share points of view or opinions, knowledge, emotions, feelings, learn, socialise and to give praise and show others they are valued.

Communication is an essential tool in the nursing profession that can be used to meet the needs of vulnerable patients. It’s also a fundamental requirement of the job role to be able to communicate clearly with individuals and their families and members of staff on a daily basis. A good strong level of communication with other staff members ensures effective team working and continuity of care. It also ensures any forms of abuse and health and safety issues are recognised and reported. All nursing staff should attend hand-over at the beginning of each shift and also complete any documents/notes after attending to each individual, thereby keeping other staff informed and up to date on current situations within the workplace.

Patients communicate with nursing staff to express their needs and preferences. It is part of my job role as nursing staff to discuss the options and choices available to the individual to allow them to be fully informed on their choices regarding their care.

2 When working within a hospital there is a whole range of people to communicate with at all times. Firstly, there is the patient and their family and friends, who could potentially be involved in their care. There is also a need to communicate with colleagues and other professionals such as staff nurse, doctor/consultant, and pharmacist. The way you interact and communicate with these people differ depending to whom you’re communicating with and the purpose of the communication. You need to be able to adopt a different approach with different people to ensure the same information and details are relayed in the communication you are conveying. Effective communication is especially important with regards to:

Health and safety- required for good team working in moving and handling
Patients/service users- to ensure their choices and needs are being met
Manager/nurse- report any problems
Emergencies- to summon assistance

3 When caring for a patient you would have established, developed and maintained a relationship over a period of time and as a result be more susceptible to anticipate and understand the potential reactions they may display when communicating with them. To observe the individual’s reaction whilst communicating is vital because they may not always say what they mean. By using effective listening you can notice reactions. This may be when you ask an individual “ Are you in pain?” and they reply, “ No I’m ok” but from the tone of their voice and the expression on their face you will know this might be untrue and they are saying more. It could be the case if the patient frowns it could show they have not understood what you have said, even though they might have said that they did. The correct way responding to this would be to ask open questions in order to try and establish what the problem is. When caring for patients you need to be aware of these reactions and respond to them in the correct way.

3. Show how and when to seek advice about communication
You would need to seek advice from your line manager (registered nurse) about communication, when you feel you are unable to meet the patient’s communication needs. This could be because you have difficulty communicating with individuals using their preferred communication methods or language; if their needs have changed, the methods normally used – for example, speech, body language, facial expressions - may be inappropriate, ineffective or the issues to be communicated are outside your expertise. Your line manager would be able to receive specialist advice if