Overview

Prepare a 3–4-page report on nurse-patient communication in which you address types of communication, factors that influence the communication experience, and how the patient experience affects health outcomes. Recommend evidence-based strategies to improve nurse-patient communication and explain how the strategies consider patient demographics.

Nursing professionals do not only communicate with others within their organizations—often, they are also the first point of contact with patients. Thus, nursing professionals need superior communication skills to explain procedures and medication instructions, as well as to listen to what patients need to say.

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By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:

• Competency 2: Describe the concepts, processes, and tools required to conduct comprehensive health assessments for individuals, families, communities, and populations.
  • Recommend evidence-based strategies to improve nurse-client/patient communication.
  • Explain how nurse-client/patient communication strategies consider individual demographics.
• Competency 3: Explain the internal and external factors that can affect the health of individuals, families, communities, and populations.
  • Describe the types of communication that occur between nurses and clients/patients.
  • Explain the factors that influence the communication experience between nurses and clients/patients.
  • Explain how the client/patient communication experience can impact health care outcomes.

  Context

  Clark and Paraska (2014) suggest that understanding how people communicate is the first step in learning how to teach patients more effective methods of listening, self-awareness, and self-expression—and also in identifying barriers in communication. The process of communication can be difficult, as we can interpret meaning based on a variety of hidden messages—some conscious and intentional—some not.

  Reference

  Clark, C. C., & Paraska, K. K. (2014). Health promotion for nurses: A practical guide. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett.

• Assessment Instructions

  Imagine that, in an effort to reduce the number of patient complaints about nursing staff, organizational leadership has asked your department to prepare some preliminary research on a number of different topics. Your topic is patient communication, such as the following:

  • The types of communication that take place between nurses and patients.
  • The factors that can influence both positive and negative experiences.
  • How the experience can impact health care outcomes.
  • Strategies that can improve the communication between nurses and patients.

  Preparation

  Search the Capella library and the Internet for peer-reviewed journal articles or other professional resources on the topic of effective communication with patients. You will need at least 3 resources to support your work in this assessment.

  Directions

  Prepare a report on patient-nurse communication in which you include the following:

  • Describe the types of communication that take place between nurses and clients/patients. Do not forget to consider types of communication beyond verbal and written on paper.
  • Explain the factors that influence positive and negative experiences during the communication process. (Hint: Consider the experiences of both the client/patient and the nurse. Also, consider things such as age, gender, culture, and so on, of both the client/patient and the nurse.)
  • Explain how the client/patient experience can impact health care outcomes.
  • Recommend evidence-based strategies for improving communication between client/patients and nurses.
  • Explain how the strategies consider different client/patient demographics.

  Format this assessment as a report that you would give to your supervisor. It may be helpful for you to review how your organization formats internal reports and incorporate your findings. You are still required to adhere to APA guidelines for in-text citations and references, as well as for formatting your reference page.

  Additional Requirements

  • Include a title page and a reference page.
  • Ensure your assessment is 3–4 pages in length.
  • Use double-spaced, 12-pt., Times New Roman font.

  Patient Communication Scoring Guide

  CRITERIA	NON-PERFORMANCE	BASIC	PROFICIENT	DISTINGUISHED
  Describe the types of communication that occur between nurses and clients/patients.	Does not describe the types of communication that occur between nurses and clients/patients.	Identifies the types of communication that occur between nurses and clients/patients.	Describes the types of communication that occur between nurses and clients/patients.	Describes the types of communication that occur between nurses and clients/patients, including verbal and nonverbal, paper, and forms of e-communication.
  Explain the factors that influence the communication experience between nurses and clients/patients.	Does not explain the factors that influence the communication experience between nurses and clients/patients.	Identifies the factors that influence the communication experience between nurses and clients/patients.	Explains the factors that influence the communication experience between nurses and clients/patients.	Explains the factors that influence the communication experience between nurses and clients/patients for both nurses and clients/patients and considers a broad range of factors, including age, gender, and culture.
  Explain how the client/patient communication experience can impact health care outcomes.	Does not explain how the client/patient communication experience can impact health care outcomes.	Explains how the client/patient communication experience can impact health care outcomes, but the explanation is missing key elements.	Explains how the client/patient communication experience can impact health care outcomes.	Explains how the client/patient communication experience can impact health care outcomes and illustrates with real-world examples.
  Recommend evidence-based strategies to improve nurse-client/patient communication.	Does not recommend evidence-based strategies to improve nurse-client/patient communication.	Recommends strategies to improve nurse-client/patient communication but does provide supporting evidence.	Recommends evidence-based strategies to improve nurse-client/patient communication.	Recommends evidence-based strategies to improve nurse-client/patient communication and suggests benchmarks to determine if the strategies are effective.
  Explain how nurse-client/patient communication strategies consider individual demographics.	Does not explain how nurse-client/patient communication strategies consider individual demographics.	Explains how nurse-client/patient communication strategies consider individual demographics but omits some key areas of demographics, such as spirituality, sexual orientation, et cetera.	Explains how nurse-client/patient communication strategies consider individual demographics.	Explains how nurse-client/patient communication strategies consider individual demographics connecting the strategies to a broad range of demographics including spirituality, sexual orientation, culture, gender, age, et cetera.
  Write content clearly and logically with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.	Does not write content clearly, logically, or with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.	Writes with errors in clarity, logic, grammar, punctuation, or mechanics.	Writes content clearly and logically with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.	Writes clearly and logically with correct use of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics; uses relevant evidence to support a central idea.
  Correctly format citations and references using current APA style.	Does not correctly format citations and references using current APA style.	Uses current APA style to format citations and references but with numerous errors.	Correctly formats citations and references using current APA style with few errors.	Correctly formats citations and references with no errors.