Acute Nursing-Communication Skills Activity

Acute Nursing-Communication Skills Activity
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Introduction
Emotional processes do influence distress pain in patients, where patients are more likely to experience greater pain if they have emotional distress. Nursing communication plays a critical role towards improving quality of care in patients with distress related to pain. Pain can cause for distress where patients find it hard to communicate and cope with the symptoms of pain. Mrs. Stevens is 50 years old experiencing chronic back pain who has been readmitted, with blood pressure of 140/90. Using a PASS self report measure focused on pain on a scale of 0 (never) and 5(always). The patient had reported score of 3, with subscales related to anxiety and avoidance responses. Assistive communication strategies and materials are essential tools to improve nurse- patient communication and interaction. Timing in communication plays a crucial role in pain management in nursing assessment and intervention of pain from patients to nurses and from nurses to clinicians (Jent et al., 2004). Patient-nurse communication helps in effective implementation of evidence –based pain management (Samuels & Fetzer, 2009). This paper highlights on factors that enhance and impede communication with patients experiencing distress related to pain including: time, communication, patients’ psychological wellbeing, patient perception, intervention programs and communication barriers.
Factors influencing communication in patients with distress related to pain
In some cases, patients do not express their displeasure and emotions directly in hospital settings. They rely on indirect cues to send signals about their worries, and psychological distress is positively related to expressing cues, but negatively related with explicit expression of concerns (Uitterhoeve et al., 2009). Essentially, patients who require emotional support rely on cues rather than relay explicit concerns to nurses. Hence, to provide a more holistic healthcare approach, nurses need to understand cues that are not explicitly expressed but are relevant to facilitate patient-nurse communication. An open patient-centred approach to communication helps patients to deal with distress associated with pain (Farin et al., 2013).
Time can be a facilitator and a hindrance to communication, and interacting with patients for longer time typically results to more bonding and engagement, but insufficient time is also a barrier to nursing-patient relationships. According to Hemsley et al (2011), time constrains communication when nurses have a heavy workload and cannot adequately carry out their duties and responsibilities. The authors highlight on one study, where nurses reported that they had inadequate time and this constrained them from interacting fully with patients (Hemsley et al., 2011). According to Kraszewski and McEwen (2010), time facilitates communication with patients, when ...