Nursing Fundamentals - Therapeutic Communication

Okay, so the next chapter that we're gonna talk about in "Fundamentals of Nursing," Edition 10, is around communication.

And this can get a little, I don't wanna say wonky, but, you know, interpretive, I guess, is the word I'm looking for because when you get questions on the NCLEX or on your nursing exams and it c- and it's around communication, it can be difficult for some people to answer them correctly or the way that the exam wants you to answer because you're bringing in your own personal experiences, and you have to think more in the framework of how does the book want me to answer this question, not what does my personal experiences, um, because sometimes your own personal experiences when it comes to communication, and it doesn't have to be that you've worked in the healthcare environment, it can be anything, right? Can be different than what the book wants you to answer.

So if you can try to reframe your thinking that way when it comes to studying more of these grayish matters, it might help you to be able to identify the correct answer on the exam.

So when we talk about communication in healthcare, we're talking about therapeutic.

It's c- the, the term is coined therapeutic communication, and really, uh, 90% of all communication is really non-verbal.

So it's in our facial expressions and what we don't say.

Um, so it's really important that a nurse understands and can read body language and can dig a little deeper with a patient, you know, if their, if their body language or their facial expression isn't matching what they're verbally telling you, knowing how to, to dig a little deeper.

And of course, things that can influence the communication between you and the re- the recipient or the patient is their developmental lev- level.

That could be whether they're a child or it could, it could even mean as an adult, they may have developmental issues.

So that's one factor.

Another factor is their sociocultural, uh, beliefs.

And so for some cultures, you know, making eye contact would be considered an offense, right? Or speaking maybe louder, right? So things like that.

Even space and territory, so how far away are you standing from the person? For example, if the person is maybe, is hearing impaired, facing them and making sure they can read your lips, not talking louder, but making sure they can read your lips is important.

But then also at the same time, you need to respect people's physical space, right? 'Cause again, socioculturally-wise, they may have different beliefs around that, even different beliefs around gender and who should be in the room, et cetera.

And then there's always the person's physical, mental, and emotional state that plays a role there if you're gonna be working in a bedside area or depending on where in the hospital, right? Certain units in the hospital may exude more emotions that may hijack a person's critical thinkings.

You know, think of an emergency situation, right? So if you're working in the ER, you know, you have to be mindful of that individual and what they're experiencing.

So there are different phases or goals, uh, through each phase of the nurse, uh, therapeutic, uh, conversation, and overall the, the, the idea is that you want the patient to feel heard, you want them to feel comfortable, and you want them to feel safe.