Therapeutic and Non-therapeutic Communication
Introduction
Effective communication is important in ensuring good outcome of personalized nursing care for all patients. To achieve this, the nurse ought to understand and assist patients using therapeutic communication. Therapeutic and Non-therapeutic Communication Essay Paper
Therapeutic communication takes place when the interactions between the nurse, patient, and the family in a matter that holistically values the patient. Therapeutic communication with the patient effectively addresses the needs of the patient and has been shown to improve patient outcomes (Fakhr-Movahedi et al, 2016). Therapeutic communication assists patients to better understand their condition and treatment and encourages the patient to express her feelings and ideas in a respective manner. In addition, therapeutic communication involves the nurse utilizing various strategies to better understand and know the baseline health of the patient, the patient’s interest in their care, as well as the patient’s receptiveness to follow the treatment regimen. Qualities that allow therapeutic communication include active listening, using open-ended questions, role-playing, encouraging decisions, and genuine empathy and not interrupting the patient during communication (Kornhaber et al, 2016). Generally, therapeutic communication allows the patient to express themselves and the nurse to advocate for personalized and holistic care. Therapeutic and Non-therapeutic Communication Essay Paper
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On the other hand, non-therapeutic communication can result in unintended miscommunication between the patient and the nurse. Non-therapeutic communication is characterized by making assumptions about the patient’s feelings; interrupting the patients; asking personal questions; invalidation; underloading; value judgments; and false assurances (Fakhr-Movahedi et al, 2018).
Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal communication can be non-therapeutic because nonverbal communication can be misinterpreted because the patient and even the nurse can misread cues such as facial expression or body language (Kornhaber et al, 2016). This can negatively affect the patient outcomes because the nurse may misinterpret the nonverbal communication and thus fail to address the appropriate patient needs, and thus negatively affect patient health outcomes.
References
Kornhaber R, Walsh K, Duff J & Kim W. (2016). Enhancing adult therapeutic interpersonal relationships in the acute health care setting: an integrative review. J Multidiscip Healthc. 1(9), 537–546.
Fakhr-Movahedi A, Zahra R, Salsali M & Reza N. (2016). Exploring Nurse’s Communicative Role in Nurse-Patient Relations: A Qualitative Study. J Caring Sci. 5(4), 267–276. Therapeutic and Non-therapeutic Communication Essay Paper