Nursing Core Competency Paper

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Communication as a Nursing Core Competency
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” —George Bernard Shaw
In an era of technological advancements, endless emails, texts, and social media networks, it is easy to forget the importance and value of communication and to underestimate its effectiveness in improving patient’s safety and satisfaction outcomes. Providing patient care is the key responsibility of a professional nurse; in order to do so, nurses are required to learn skills and adapt behaviors to communicate effectively with patients and all other members of health care team. In nursing, obscure terminology and indirect communication can be the difference between life and death; therefore, the life-long development of communication skills is an integral part of the foundation of nursing care.
Communication with Patients
To deliver quality nursing care, it is essential to develop effective nurse-patient relationship (Arungwa, 2014). Communication with patient involves more than transmission of information. It is transmission and recognition of patient’s feelings (Arungwa, 2014). Respect for the patient’s rights is important when it comes to the decision making and their participation in planning care (Nurse of the Future: Nursing Core Competencies, 2010).
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Patient’s readiness and willingness to communicate is one of the key factors, and assessment is crucial in determining this readiness (Nurse of the Future: Nursing Core Competencies, 2010). Nurses need to take into account verbal, as well as non-verbal responses. Linguistic barrier, cultural differences, developmental level, and individual differences in expression can render communication ineffective (Arungwa, 2014). Nurses need to account for all the possible barriers in an effort to provide optimal care to their