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| 10-31-05 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Communication in Nursing | ||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Communication is important in any career.� In the nursing career, communication could have life or death consequences.� Registered nurse Kim Oakland uses most forms of communication in the hospital she works.� Ms. Oakland also teaches nursing students at Thomas Nelson Community College.� There are five different types of communication Kim uses most often are listening, observing behaviors, speaking, reading, writing, and computers for data storage on patients.� Communication helps Kim help her patients with their conditions. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Listening is important in every aspect of life.� For nursing, listening tells nurses important information about their patient.� Just by listening, nurses can learn their patient's symptoms or about their habits.� Kim tells her students, "Listen to your patients for subtle things and look for nonverbal cues."� One night Kim admitted a patient into her ward with many different conditions.� This patient was given a 1 mg dose of pain medicine by a different nurse. �While Kim was checking on her, she told Kim that the amount of medicine wasn't going to be enough.� Kim called the patient's doctor about the patient and discovered that the patient had a drug addiction.� Other than listening, a nurse must pay attention to nonverbal communication while handling patients.� Kim emphasized the importance of nonverbal communication.� If patients come saying they feel ill and sit in the chair and rub their arms or have a shortness of breathe, they could be suffering from a heart attack. Listening and observing are quite possibly the most important type of communication in nursing. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Oral communication occurs on a daily basis.�� Most communication that occurs is informal.� Nurses must call the doctor to get a drug prescription for patients.� Nurses also must talk face-to-face with their patients.� Videos are used as teaching aids for patients, to teach them about specific medical conditions.� One evening, Kim admitted a patient with pneumonia.� She asked the patient if she was on any medicine.� The patient told her that she was on blood pressure medicine but did not take it regularly.� Kim called the patient's doctor and had him continue the patient's blood pressure medicine.� It is important to keep the patients healthy and take care of all their needs. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� As for reading, Kim doesn't get as much time as she would like to read her nursing journals and magazines.� These journals and magazines help nurses keep up to date on medical advances.� Nurses also must read articles the earn CEUs, which are continuing education units.� They have quizzes them must take on the article, to help keep them up to date.� At least 60% to 75% of a nurse's day, they read charts and lab reports.� Nurses also must be able to read x-rays, progress notes, and medicine labels.� For researching purposes, Kim uses the Internet and nursing journals.� When Kim has a little extra time she reads AJN, Nursing 2005, and Advance for Nurses.� Reading and research help keep nurses up to date on the changing world. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Computers are growing in importance in the nursing world.� All charting and assessment is done on the computer every shift change.� Kim uses Google to help her research conditions.� Most of the writing in the nursing world is computerized.� Nurses put all patient information in computers unless the system is down.� All admission information is kept on a computer so that different shifts everyday can check the information.� Head nurses spend 5 to 10 hours a day writing.� The amount of writing also depends on the number of patients a nurse has.� The only types of writing Kim Oakland had to do was committee reports last year and notes in a patient's chart. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Communication is important to help keep patients healthy in the nursing career.� Most communication in the nursing career is oral and occurs between patients and nurses or nurses and doctors.� Listening and oral communication are the two most important types of communication a nurse can have to help their patients. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Works Cited | ||||||||||||||||||
| Oakland, Kim.� Personal interview.� 31 Oct. 2005. | ||||||||||||||||||
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