Edited by Ayodele Nwosu
Published on August 27th, 2014
I feel that a current issue that is very important and effects nursing is communication. Communication as I learned in my first year of nursing classes is key. Communication is not only important when it comes to speaking with employees, but also when nurses are speaking to their patients and their families.
When nurses use clear communication to another employee it helps ensure that they are not going to make a mistake. We learned about how nurses and doctors use for example check backs. I feel that when a nurse is not sure that they heard correctly that they take that initiative and they repeat back before administrating what they are supposed to be doing. Little things like that in communication can make a huge difference. If a nurse does not have good communication they can give the wrong dosage of anything to someone. This miscommunication can be life or death for their patients.
Communication between doctors and nurses is very important too. I have heard from people that there are times nurses can be somewhat intimidated by the doctors or the doctors can make them feel that way. Even though it may be hard it is best if nurses get themselves to a point where they do not feel like that. Being a team is important and we need to be able to speak to them, without worrying that they are looking down on us or anything in that matter.
When it comes to our patients and their families’ good communication can help them feel safer and more relaxed about what is going on. It is our responsibility to let them know that we will do everything we can possibly do to help them or their family member. Now even though we needed to reassure them that we are doing everything possible, we also need to keep in mind to never say everything is going to be alright. We have to keep good communication along with no false reassurances. Saying everything is going to be okay is something a lot of people use on a daily basis, as nurses we have to break ourselves of saying that. It would be more heart breaking to tell a patient that, knowing they aren’t just to make them feel relaxed for the moment. If a nurse does not have good communication the connection needed between patient and nurse will be lost. I know when I have went to the doctors and the nurse is not as nice as they could be, I always make a promise to myself I will not be like that. I do not want my patients feeling the way I did when I was dealing with a rude nurse.
Along with good verbal communication there is also good written communication needed. When it comes to reading written orders it can be difficult to read doctors hand writing. As nurses we need to take that extra step and ask them if we are not sure what is says. It is very easy to think that a dosage is something and it was meant to be another thing. Small amounts of too much can be very bad for someone. Also, when it comes to charting we as nurses need to make sure that we are writing neat and very clear to assure that our notes can be read. We cannot be too short to where it does not make sense and write sloppy. Especially if we do not work the next day and another nurse is looking over our charts to take care of the patient.
Having good written and verbal communication are very important issues when it comes to nursing. Being able to talk well with our fellow nurses, doctors, and patients are an important part of our job. Double checking written orders or writing in our charts, both need to be clear and be good written communication.
