Nursing Communication: the good & the bad

THE GOOD

Communication can be an important part of the nursing process. This simple tool, something we do on a daily basis for multiple reasons, can mean the difference between a good or bad day. As a nurse, you are there to listen to the patients concerns, fears, and joys. You should always take the time to sit down and pay attention, for you could be the only person this person has to talk to. More importantly, it is your job to communicate with other people in the health profession. The good part about this is that it leads to better and more effective care. When your a nurse your job revolves around communication, its up to you to make sure that it is done effectively. 

THE BAD

With communication being such a powerful tool in the medical field, nurses have the power to use it ineffectively. When this is not done properly, the patients care is in jeopardy because the nurse failed to communicate the necessary information to the nurse of the subsequent shift. In addition, nurses can communicate about the wrong and/or unnecessary things instead of focusing on the patients they are assigned to. On countless occasions, I have witnessed the nurse I was assigned to gossip in the hall, right outside the patients room, about certain patients and how difficult or dramatic they were being. I felt it so wrong to gossip like that when I knew that the nurse had multiple things that were in need of being done. Nurses can take vitals all day long, but they play a vital role in the functioning of a hospital.

Communication- the human 

connection- is the key to 

personal and career success

-Paul J. Meyer