Assignment Writing - Investigating Communication Behavior of Nurses Sample Work

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INVESTIGATING COMMUNICATION BEHAVIOUR
OF NURSES WHILE INTERACTING WITH PATIENTS

Introduction
Across several professional domains, communication is of utmost importance. This is
true particularly in the domain of nursing. Generally, establishing an effective communication
pattern with patients is vital within the domain of nursing (Coats et al., 2018). Nursing staff with
communication skills can identify patients’ healthcare needs. Highly meaningful communication
with patients’ allows nursing staff to acquire detailed knowledge about each patient and their
individual attributes (Sibiya, 2018). In fact, positive nurse-patient relations comprise of a variety
of communication behaviours in nursing practice and are an integral aspect while delivering high
quality nursing care (Hemberg & Vilander, 2017).
In the healthcare sector, it is essential that nurse practitioners are sensitive to patient
requirements, while non-verbally or verbally communicating with patients (Kwame & Petrucka,
2020). Nordby (2016) postulate that, in nurse-patient communication scenarios where there is an
absence of a mutual verbal language, communication happens nonetheless either by body
language or through eye contact. Regardless of their cultural fabric, people possess specific
values, traditions and symbols. Given the situation, it is necessary that nurses perceive patients’
with due dignity while taking into account their individual requirements. Patients’ requirement
usually originates from their individual cultures (Hölzel et al., 2016). Nonetheless, it is also
necessary that nursing professionals possess particular knowledge and understand patients’
requirements and perspectives with regards to caring, as patients’ perceptions would significantly
differ from that of a nursing professional.
That the process of communication is reciprocal has been extensively acknowledged.
This reciprocal nature would mean, sending and receiving messages facilitated through verbal
and non-verbal signals. Arestedt et al. (2018) suggest that in a complex association like
that of nurse-patient, communication is much more that information exchange. As a matter of
fact, it would also include, an exchange of feelings, recognizing feelings and enabling patients’
to know that their feelings have been rightly interpreted. This paper has tried to capture
communication behaviours of nurses during interactions with their patients. Communication
behaviours here have been bifurcated into four distinct themes which comprise of; attending

behaviour, humour, communicative behaviour and empathetic communication behaviour.
Attending Behaviour
Attending behaviours can be explained as a physical representation of accessibility by
nurses and their willingness to listen to patients using non-verbal communication (Wang et al.,
2018). Attending behaviour is deemed as a procedure that revolves around the patient and the
basic scenario required by a nursing practitioner to enable nursing would comprise of;
genuineness, warmth and empathy (Kraft-Todd et al., 2017). Though patients would not directly
refer to ‘attending’, it describes communicative behaviour, particularly those which are valued
and specific to attending. Given the situation, it is the onus of a nurse to be aware about power
imbalance, recognize scenarios that can be intimidating to patients while establishing therapeutic
relations. This type of awareness enables nurses to setup and maintain proper boundaries.
Sommers-Flanagan (2016) state that attending behaviours in a nurse-patient association makes
up the base for interviewing. For ensuring success, it is necessary for nurses to accord due
attention to their patients in ways that are culturally as well as individually apt.
In case there is disruption in the thought process, behaving as well as feeling might
emerge as ways that are projected by individuals on their own. Specific knowledge and skills
with regards to listening (attending) is a vital component in identifying this kind of disruptions
(Hardavella et al., 2017). Here, attending would refer to the intensity of presence on the whole,
or expending time, or being physically present with a patient. In many situations, an act like
being in the company of another person experiencing pain, or is passing through a painful period
could make a vast difference. The level of attending could be indicated through some cues that
are non-verbal and would comprise of; the posture of nurse (forward inclined position with arms
at the sides), the level or degree of eye contact between nurse and patient, nurse’s body language
(relaxed while interacting with patient and evaluation of patient’s response to nurse’s behaviour)
(Sibiya, 2018). An aspect that needs to be noted is that body language, posture and eye contact of
nurses are mostly influenced through culture and it needs to be assessed based on cultural norms
of patients.

Humour
The use of humour would be in contrast with nursing codes that exist in the nursing
domain. However, utilizing humour could be beneficial to nurses while considering patients as
individuals and setting up a therapeutic association between nurses and patients. There are many
who perceive humour as a medium of communication, and it is also considered as a subjective
emotional response (Sousa et al., 2019). It could also have a multidimensional value as far as
provision of treatment to patients is concerned. It might be a result of the recognition and
expression of incompatibilities during scenarios that are comic, impulsive or even absurd,
remark, action or characteristics that conveys a feeling of closeness when distributed in a trust
based environment between nurses and patients. In instances where humour is used by nurses as
a communication medium, it could be highly advantageous to setup a natural relationship at the
time of interaction with patients and result in major holistic benefits.
When humour is used within a healthcare setting, it could be effective in facilitating
nurses to create a bond with patients at a personal level. Almeida and Nunes (2020) opined that
inclusive humour not just motivates interaction with patients but it also results in establishing
peer support and bonding. This would be specifically advantageous for patients who are not very
familiar or comfortable in a healthcare environment. Creating an environment for patients that is
comfortable and secure would be helpful to nurses too especially considering that they work in
stressful environments.
Communicative Behaviour
Nurse-patient interactions are usually complex and one of the possible drawback that can
emerge is miscommunication. This holds true in case of patients’ understanding about their
prognosis, care objectives, and treatment expectations (Moodbidri, 2017). These are major
aspects that can influence choices that patients make regarding their end-of-life care and
treatment too, which has implications on their condition too. In situations where communicative
behaviour is practiced by nurses, it allows patients to perceive and deem themselves as being an
active part of discussions pertaining to their health. At the same time, patients are also expected
to use communicative behaviours wherein on their part they need to communicate all
information regarding their ailments, experience or anything that concerns their health.

Empathetic Communication Behaviour
Empathetic communication behaviour is a communication process where the focus is
mainly on emotional engagement between nurse and patients (Babaii et al., 2021). As a concept,
empathy is rather multidimensional in nature and includes behavioural, emotional, cognitive and
moral components linked to it (Bettelli, 2017). It is implied that empathetic people (nurses, in
this instance) understand the notions indicated, in tandem with feelings which exist in the other
person (patients, in this instance). Empathy signifies a key focus along with feeling and in the
patient’s world. It would be inclusive of; accurately identifying a patient’s condition, their
perspectives and feelings, communicating their perceptions to patients and cross-checking with
patients for accuracy, taking action on their understanding such that it is helpful and therapeutic
to patients. There could be a biological angle to empathetic behaviour. This is characterized with
the discovery of the mirror neuron where it has been suggested by Acharya and Shukla (2012),
that actions noticed from others could be mapped by the nervous system onto the premotor
cortex of the self. It has been suggested that there could be a right hemisphere mirroring system
that could provide a neural substrate for empathy.
As per nursing care constructs, an empathetic behaviour is the main component in a
nurse-patient relationship. This can be applied for improved functioning patient and for patient
who functions at a level which is comparatively primitive. It has been observed through a review
of nursing literature that empathy has five conceptualizations; professional state, caring process,
special association, human trait and communication process. Many nursing practitioners have
considered empathy from diverse perspectives (Terezam et al., 2017). Certain nurses consider
empathy from the perspective of time frames, while others perceive it at empathy measurements
and then there are some who consider outcomes when empathy was evident. Empathy, as a
notion can be deemed as collecting and maturing more in depth and breadth. Though every
notion of empathy is considered as valuable particularly within nurse-patient communication
behaviour, there is a possibility that a highly advanced and mature notion of empathetic
behaviour would ultimately emerge.

Conclusion
Communication is a vital facet in nursing and establishing a positive nurse-patient
association is essential to deliver high quality nursing care. When there is clarity during
communication between nurse-patients, it indicates that information is conveyed in an effective
manner among individuals. With a view to be successful as a nursing practitioner, it is suggested
to have effective communication skills. Nurses are known to communicate with several people
with varied education levels and from different cultural and social backgrounds. In such a
situation, they are expected to ensure that communication is effective, professional and caring.
This is of specific significance at the time of communicating with patients and their families.
However, communication is often challenging. But it has been evidenced through studies from
the past that nurses are good at communicating with patients especially when a patient-centric
approach is adopted. Adopting and practicing a patient-centric approach can only be possible
when nursing practitioners comprehend and acquire knowledge about appropriate
communicative behaviours that they can use with patients. Communicative behaviours like
humour, attending, empathetic and others would motivate and nurture proper communication
among patients and nurse and thereby ensure delivery of proper nursing care.

References
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