NUR5004 - Effective Communication Skills Assessment Answer

Introduction

• Topic selected: Effective communication skills.
• Communication is the exchange of information between people.
• Nurses usually act as first responders to complex humanitarian crises and disasters.
• Communication skills help in providing detailed information and prevent misunderstandings.
• Nurses’ communication skills can influence patients’ outcomes (Sibiya, 2018).

Communication can be defined as the exchange of information between people by sending and receiving it through speaking, writing, or by using any other medium. Effective communication skills are crucial in nursing, as nurses usually act as first responders to complex humanitarian crises and disasters, protectors and advocates for the community and communicators and coordinates within the team. While interacting with patients, their family members and other healthcare professionals’ effective communication skills help in providing detailed information and prevent misunderstandings. The quality of communication in interactions between nurses and patients has a significant influence on patient outcomes.

The rationale for choosing effective communication skills:

Effective communication skills are of paramount importance in nursing for several compelling reasons like:

• Patient-centered care.
• Building trust.
• Allow nurses to conduct accurate assessments (Dithole et al., 2017).
• Enhance patient safety by reducing medication errors.
• Coordinated care and effective interprofessional collaboration (Sibiya, 2018).

There are several compelling reasons why nurses need to learn effective communication skills. Effective communication skills allow nurses to understand and address the unique needs, concerns, and preferences of each patient. It enables nurses to build trustworthy relationships with patients and their family members. As nurses have the role of gathering accurate and comprehensive information from patients to assess their condition and make an accurate diagnosis. Effective communication enables nurses to ask relevant questions, interpret non-verbal cues, and obtain vital patient information. When nurses have the ability to communicate effectively with other healthcare professionals, it promotes medication administration safety. Interprofessional collaboration can be promoted by using effective communication skills.

SMART Goal of the learning plan:

By the end of the last six months, I had enhanced my effective communication skills in nursing by achieving a patient satisfaction rate score of 90% or higher and reducing medication administration errors by 80%.

Explanation of the SMART components:

Specific: The goal specifies a clear and specific outcome, which was to achieve a high patient satisfaction score and reduce medication administration error by 80%.
Measurable: The goal is quantifiable, as it sets a target of 90% or higher in-patient satisfaction scores. This makes it easy to measure progress and success.
Achievable: The goal was realistic and attainable within a six-month time frame. It is based on improving communication skills and adapting strategies.
Relevant: Enhancing communication skills is highly relevant to the nursing profession, as effective communication is a fundamental aspect of quality and patient care.
Time-bound: The timeframe of six months provides a clear deadline for achieving the goal, making it time-bound.

Activities involved in the learning plan

Self-assessment: to identify areas of improvement.
Attending workshops or seminars to study non-verbal communication cues.
Enroll in courses on topics like empathetic communication and breaking bad news (Gutierrez-Puertas et al., 2020).
Simulate patient interactions, difficult conversations, and interdisciplinary team communication scenarios (MacLean et al., 2017).
Read literature and engage in discussion about emotional intelligence.
Participate in interdisciplinary rounds, meetings, and healthcare team activities (Gutierrez-Puertas et al., 2020).

The learning plan to develop effective communication skills involves a variety of activities. Firstly, I will conduct a self-assessment to identify my current strengths and weaknesses. Like, I believed that I need more work to improve my active listening, non-verbal communication skills, and using empathy in communication.
Some of the key activities that were involved in my learning plan to develop effective communication skills are: I attended communication skills workshops or seminars to learn about techniques like asking clarifying questions and active listening during patient interaction and communication with colleagues. I enrolled in the courses on topics like empathetic communication, breaking bad news, and patient-centred care. I engaged in role-playing exercises with colleagues or mentors by stimulating patient interaction, difficult conversations, or interdisciplinary team communication scenarios. To enhance my emotional intelligence, I read literature and engage in discussions with seniors and mentors. To adapt the communication approach to accommodate a diverse patient population, I participated in interdisciplinary rounds, meetings, and healthcare team activities.

Resources needed for the learning plan

• Access to educational websites and platforms.
• Access to in-person or virtual events that provide hands-on training.Mannequins for stimulation exercises in healthcare settings.
• Textbooks, articles, and research papers on effective communication in healthcare.
• Availability of mentors and coaches for regular guidance and feedback (Kerr et al., 2020).

It is essential to ensure that the resources are easily accessible and integrated into the learning plan. Some of the resources that were needed in the current learning plan include access to educational websites and platforms offering free or paid courses related to effective communication skills. It would be challenging to attend offline training during the transition period, but the access of virtual events that provide hands-on training was a great help. The availability of mannequins for stimulation exercises in healthcare settings was another required resource. Textbooks, articles, and research papers on effective communication in healthcare are needed. Lastly, the availability of mentors and coaches for regular guidance and feedback.

The process of learning:

What went well

• Setting clear SMART goals provided a sense of direction.
• Enrolling in training programs helped with time management.
• Role-playing and patient interaction made me recognize realistic challenges like hesitation.
• Interprofessional collaboration enhances teamwork.
• Helped in staying updated on the latest communication techniques.

The current learning program for developing effective communication skills was a valuable experience for me. Some of the actions went so well at the beginning of the program, that I set the SMART goal, which provided a sense of direction throughout the program. To manage time, I enrolled in online training courses, which benefit me in managing both my learning and clinical practice shifts. Gathering educational materials, enrolling in workshops, and accessing online resources for communication skills was a valuable part of the processes. Actively practicing communication skills through role-playing and real patient interaction provided some real-life experiences. This made me realize the importance of self-esteem and being confidence in nursing. Collaborating with healthcare team members and adapting to cultural differences in communication fosters better teamwork and patient care.

The process of learning:

What went wrong

• I face barriers in understanding necessary resources.
• It was challenging to identify reliable and reputable websites.
• Availability of a vast number of available resources leads to potential wasted time and effort.
• Faced many awkward moments during role-playing.

However, during the learning process, some of the actions went wrong I faced difficulty in understanding necessary resources, and I got confused in choosing the most appropriate resources. It was challenging for me to identify reliable and reputable websites to enroll in the courses related to effective communication skills in nursing. Reviewing a vast number of available resources leads to time wastage of time and effort. Role-playing sometimes felt artificial, and the transition from practice to real-life situations was not seamless. I also faced missteps, and awkward moments can occur.

The process of learning:

• How did I adjust
• Seek guidance and resources to create a structured learning plan.
• Continually assess the effectiveness of resources.

Learn from challenges and mistakes and refine your approach over time.
To prevent awkward moments, embrace feedback and adapt a new communication style.
To overcome the challenges that I faced, I made some adjustments, like seeking guidance and resources to create a structured learning plan. Focused on a reputable resource and seek recommendations from peers or mentors to narrow down the choices. I tried to reflect on both successful and challenging interactions to identify areas that need further development. To prevent awkward moments, embrace feedback and a new adapt communication style.

How leaning was measured?

• Used standardized assessment tools for evaluating communication skills.
• Used notebooks or digital apps for recording experience, challenges and progress.
• Used documentation tools for tracking communication-related incidents and improvements.
• Regularly collected feedback from mentors.
• Used structured checklists to assess the use of effective communication techniques (Xie et al., 2023).

Multiple assessment methods were incorporated to allow for a comprehensive evaluation of a nurse's communication skills. I used standardized assessment tools for evaluating communication skills. I maintained a record of my experiences, challenges, and progress by using notebooks or digital apps. This helped me identify the areas of improvement and tracking communication-related incidents. I regularly collected feedback from patients, colleagues, and mentors regarding communication skills.

Lesson learned

• Effective communication is significant in patient-centred care.
• Proper communication helps in preventing medication errors.
• Effective communication fosters a trustworthy nurse-patient relationship.
• Non-verbal communication skills can promote assessment effectiveness (Cannity et al., 2021).

In summary, it can be concluded that effective communication skills are crucial for nurses it can positively impact patient centered care and helps in preventing medication errors. I learned that using effective communication skills helped in better collaboration with the healthcare team and reduce the risk of misunderstanding and misinterpretation. After the completion of my learning plan, I was able to implement the non-verbal communication skills, and my active listening skills also improved.

• How to guide junior nurses to develop effective communication skills.
• Teach the significance of effective communication skills.
• Explain how communication positively influences interprofessional collaboration.
• Help junior nurses to create a personal development plan.
• Provide feedback to the junior nurses and let them know the areas of improvement (Bullington et al., 2019).

It would be my pleasure to share my learning with a more junior nurse to develop effective communication skills. Firstly, I will teach the junior nurse about the significance of effective communication skills and explain that communication can help them in developing therapeutic and trustworthy relationship with the patients. I will help the junior nurse to create own personal development plan according to his/her areas of practice by using the example of my learning plan. I will provide feedback and guidance to the junior nurses so that he/she can act accordingly.

References

Bullington, J., Söderlund, M., Sparén, E. B., Kneck, Å., Omérov, P., & Cronqvist, A. (2019). Communication skills in nursing: A phenomenologically-based communication training approach. Nurse Education in Practice, 39, 136-141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2019.08.011
Cannity, K. M., Banerjee, S. C., Hichenberg, S., Leon-Nastasi, A. D., Howell, F., Coyle, N., ... & Parker, P. A. (2021). Acceptability and efficacy of a communication skills training for nursing students: Building empathy and discussing complex situations. Nurse Education in Practice, 50, 102928. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2020.102928
Dithole, K. S., Thupayagale-Tshweneagae, G., Akpor, O. A., & Moleki, M. M. (2017). Communication skills intervention: promoting effective communication between nurses and mechanically ventilated patients. BMC Nursing, 16(1), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-017-0268-5
Gutierrez-Puertas, L., Marquez-Hernandez, V. V., Gutierrez-Puertas, V., Granados-Gamez, G., & Aguilera-Manrique, G. (2020). Educational interventions for nursing students to develop communication skills with patients: a systematic review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(7), 2241. https://doi.org/10.3390%2Fijerph17072241
Kerr, D., Ostaszkiewicz, J., Dunning, T., & Martin, P. (2020). The effectiveness of training interventions on nurses' communication skills: a systematic review. Nurse Education Today, 89, 104405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2020.104405
MacLean, S., Kelly, M., Geddes, F., & Della, P. (2017). Use of simulated patients to develop communication skills in nursing education: An integrative review. Nurse Education Today, 48, 90-98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2016.09.018
Sibiya, M. N. (2018). Effective communication in nursing. Nursing, 19, 20-34. https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Ib-QDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA19&dq=Effective+Communication+in+Nursing&ots=7gtCF-o6qF&sig=TipJLvz2w-PzXDArdPuiFiGdt1I&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Effective%20Communication%20in%20Nursing&f=false
Xie, J., Ding, S., Wang, C., & Liu, A. (2023). An evaluation of nursing students' communication ability during practical clinical training. Nurse Education Today, 33(8), 823-827. 

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