Professional Communication & Personal Effectiveness in Nursing - Essay Sample

Introduction

Professional communication in nursing is the element that enables nurses and other healthcare practitioners to make the use of all the resources that they have at their disposal to allow them to master their professional lives and achieve better work and life goals (Judee et al.2016, p. 43). Personal effectiveness is the ability to take time in reflecting the personal achievements which subsequently help people to monitor their behavior and to see that they are getting the results they would like (Egan 1975, p. 17). In the health profession, communication is essential since it builds a therapeutic relationship between the nurses and their patients. It establishes and develops a professional-patient relationship that supports and facilitates the delivery of high-quality nursing care (Foronda 2016, p. 17). The Brief, Ordinary and Effective (BOE) communication model that provides an affirmation to the patients especially in busy and time-pressured clinical settings (Egan 2014, p.22). The essay will evaluate the effectiveness of the BOE and The Skilled Helper models in the context of Jane, a young mother in her early twenties who was at home with her eighteen-year-old son. She gets the assistance from Mary, a health visitor who interview Jane after being notified that Michael had experienced minor injuries. The two models have been previously identified as the most effective based on the quality and their application in the clinical profession and in training other healthcare professionals (Jenny and Mary 2016, p. 31).Therefore, they will be used to review and identify opportunities which will enhance the communication and provision of care through a therapeutic relationship (Mary 2003, p. 25).

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The skilled helper by communication model by Egan is a framework which is useful in helping people, in general, to solve problems and identify opportunities in a particular area (Department of Health 2003, p. 3). In the healthcare setting, the model is useful in supporting different types of patients by identifying the most effective mode of treatment. According to Egan (2014), the skilled helper model has the goal of helping people to manage their problems and live more effectively while developing untapped opportunities. It also helps people to become better and productive in their daily lives (Stickley et al. 2011, p. 87). In Jane`s scenario, this communication framework is useful since it gives Mary the right confidence in treating minor injuries in Michael. Mary can incorporate her medical expertise and identify the right approach to treating minor injuries (Davis et al. 2008, p. 157). The skilled helper model also ensures empowerment by creating a central agenda to the healthcare practitioners. It then seeks to improve the person towards taking a viable action to the outcomes which they choose and value (Egan 1998, p.37). Also, the nurse can explore various possibilities and determine the most effective action that should be applied (Whitehead and Wheeler 2008, p. 59). The skilled helper model can, therefore, be regarded as a framework of conceptualizing the helping process and it is best used when working on the issues of the recent past or those of the present.

Empathy is an important element of the skilled helper model. It is the ability of a healthcare provider to feel the emotional, financial and parenting techniques of the patient (Rogers, 2003). In the case study, empathy would have allowed Mary to sense Jane`s tiredness and enable her to see things from the patient`s mother perspective. This sent a key message from the patient that enabled Mary to use her listening skills to help the patient. Empathy also allows the nurses to communicate their understanding about the situation of the patient. Good listening enables them to understand the requirements of the patient together with the hidden feelings (Egan, 2001). For example, some messages are passed through unspoken words and languages.

The skilled helper model also discusses about moving forward, and it removes the practitioner from the stuck situation to provide hope for helping the affected person (Egan 2001, p.27). For example, in Jane`s case, Mary can focus on moving forward after identifying the source of minor injuries and determining the right method of treatment (Duffy 2004, p. 24). In the creative part, the practitioner forms specific, measurable, achievable and realistic goals (Clack 2004, p. 179). For example, in Mary`s situation, she can formulate particular goals that will minimize the occurrence of minor injuries in the future. The practitioner also brainstorms the ideal scenario by being broad on the imagination and scope of the issue at hand, instead of reflecting on the practicalities (Egan 2002, p. 71). For example, in Mary can evaluate the best way of preventing minor injuries in the future and advise Jane about the approach of avoiding such an issue in the future (Burnard 2002, p. 186). The forward moving part is the section where the individual tests the realism of the goal before moving on with the intended action. For example, in Mary`s context, she can evaluate the possible strategies and specific actions that will lead Michael to recovery.

Respect and dignity are part of the underpinning values of the skilled helper model that are used to determine service users care (Department of health, 2013) In their research, Jenny and Mary (2016) state that dignity and respect goes together because they are connected. Egan (2006) states that respect is what the health practitioner should use to form the foundation of providing an intervention with the patient. This perspective is very similar to that expressed by BOE (Crawford et al., 2006) where they state that language is an vital tool that can be used to reduce misunderstanding during interaction with patient. Therefore, the use of respectful and dignified language is one of the very important core skills in building a relationship with patient (Crawford et al., 2006).

The BOE model suggests three primary forms of communication between a health practitioner and the patient or caretaker (Crawford et al. 2014, p. 14). When the healthcare provider briefly asks about the of wellbeing of the patient, keeps the questions moderate, maintains eye contact with a bit of humour, smiles, touch and uses body gestures this enables the healthcare professionals to sustain some rapport that subsequently form a good relationship with the patient (Brown et al., 2006). Whitehead & Wheeler (2008) and Crow, (2010) stated that the appropriate use of humor is one of the components of respect that patient care requires. Building rapport with the patient allows them feel relax and open up to generate discussion that will facilitate the ORDINARY. The essence of ORDINARY is to create and sustain relationship (Crawford et al., 2006) but it can be argued that there are missed opportunities that could have allowed the conversation progress to ORDINARY and EFFECTIVE. When the nurse is brief, he or she interacts with the patient in a friendly and straight-forward manner, while coming up with precise and valuable information that can be utilized in the healthcare provision (Bredart 2005, p.352). For example, in Mary`s context, she was brief by asking Jane about the wellbeing of Michael, being moderate in asking the question, keeping eye-contact and assessing the body gestures that enabled her to sustain a rapport that formed an effective relationship with Jane and Michael (Bernard 2008, p. 97).This enabled Jane to be relaxed and open in the discussion process.

The ordinary part of the BOE model is where the health practitioner builds a sustainable relationship with the patient, and they assess the missed opportunities that make the conversation ordinary and effective (Crawford et al. 2014, p. 14). For example, Mary made an ordinary conversation with Jane by avoiding the use of professional terms that would be intimidating to the client (Brosnan et al. 2018, p. 287). She used a moderate language that would build trust and confidence and subsequently enable her to come up with viable information that would be used to establish a proper medical plan (Barrere 2007, p. 29). The effective part is the component with ensures adequate patient care by meeting the exact needs of the client. The healthcare professional should identify the fundamental needs of the patient that will facilitate high-quality medical care (Crawford et al. 2014, p. 14). Ineffective communication in healthcare results in poor patient care and the need for better communication is essential from healthcare professionals to patient. This is also backed by Mary, Judith, Dana, (2011), who state that nurse to client communication is a significant element that is needed to provide health care. Gilligan, Bohlke and Baile, (2017) highlight = the significance of effective communications in identifying patient's needs is important in healthcare. Healthcare professional's communication involves the skill of gathering the necessary information required to engage and deliver high quality care which is evidence based, (Brown et al., 2006).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Skilled helper model by Egan is effective and useful than the BOE model since it provides proper propositions that are suitable for the scenarios where the health practitioner is involved in a prolonged therapeutic relationship. On the other side, the BOE model is effective in providing a brief communication at the expense of the skilled helper model. When the principles of verbal and non-verbal communication are used, they present the advantage of improving communication by forming a therapeutic relationship. The application of these principles enables the patient to notice when the patient requires an extra support (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care 2012, p.7). This can be supported by the findings of Brand et al. (2002) and Lee et al. (2002) who stated that that effective communication involves putting to use the nonverbal and verbal communication skills that create an effective interaction and they contribute to the formation of a good relationship between the patient and the health care provider. 27).

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