Running head: LEARN REFLECTION TWO 1

NURS 3021: LEARN Reflection Two

Melissa Friskney

Trent University
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LEARN Reflection Two

Looking Back

I will be reflecting on a positive communication experience I had with a patient

on the floor. One of my goals for my chronic placement was to develop stronger

communication skills with my patients and I feel this particular encounter was a very

valuable experience.

Elaborate

Throughout my chronic clinical experience, I have had the opportunity to build

therapeutic relationships and improve my communication skills. This has allowed me to

develop confidence in my nursing care and interpersonal skills. A specific interaction in

which I felt I demonstrated good communication skills was when I participated in a

conversation with my patient and her son about my patient’s husband’s recent admission

to the hospital. Initially, I went into my patient’s room to assist her back to bed after

visiting her husband. I was not planning on staying long and casually asked her how her

visit with her husband went. This simple question left my patient visibly upset and she

began to talk about how difficult it had been. This gave me the opportunity to ask both

my patient and her son questions and develop a better understanding of what they were

going through. I asked questions to the son such as, “How are you feeling having both

your parents in the hospital? Is the rest of the family supporting you and your parents

throughout this process? And what are you finding hardest about this experience?” I

asked my patient questions such as, “How did you feel seeing your husband in the

hospital? How are you coping? And what can I do as your student nurse to help you?”

These questions generated a conversation that allowed me to not only establish how my
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patient was feeling but also work on my communication skills and develop our

therapeutic relationship. I ended up staying in the room for about half an hour, actively

listening, developing strategies and comforting my patient and her son. When I left the

room they both thanked me and stated how pleased they were to be able to talk about

their feelings regarding their current situation.

Analyze

When analyzing the event, I felt it was a very positive experience because I felt

confidence in my communication skills and like I had really made an impact in both my

patient and her son’s life. A study looking at the quality of communication skills in

nurses identified it as a necessary component to care (Wittenberg-Lyles, Goldsmith &

Ferrell, 2013). However, there has yet been a training program that focuses on the unique

skills nurses require to communicate with patients and their families (Wittenberg- Lyles

et al., 2013). The study also identified several barriers to communication such as

inconsistent messages to patients and family from healthcare providers and physician’s

thoughts about nursing making nurses feeling scared to ask for clarification creating a

barrier to team communication (Wittenberg- Lyles et al., 2013). These barriers cause a

problem because communication is vital in all aspects of nursing (Abdrbo, 2017).

Abdrbo’s (2017) study found that strong communication skills need to start at the student

level (Abdrbo, 2017). The study also found upper year students demonstrated a greater

importance for communication skills when providing care in both the lab and clinical

setting (Abdrbo, 2017). The upper year students also found that when they performed

communication skills they were able to develop better therapeutic relationships with their

patients and their families (Abdrbo, 2017). Based on this evidence I feel it is important to
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always work on improving my communication skills and taking the free time I have to

talk with my patients and their families to get to know them better and understand their

unique illness experience.

Revise

The most important thing I have learned from this experience was how important

it is to take the time to talk to my patients and their family. When you take the

opportunity to visit with your patient you are able to dig deeper and explore the patient as

more than a patient but as a person. In nursing I think it can be very easy to only see a

patient as their illness and focus on treating their symptoms. However, by asking

questions and showing an interest in your patients you are able to build trusting

relationships. Without asking the simple question of how her visit went I never would

have been able to have the conversation with my patient and her son. This conversation

allowed me to identify concerns my patient and her family had and work with them to

comfort them and develop strategies to cope with the situation.

New Perspective

Moving forward, I want to continue to improve my communication skills and

work on building therapeutic relationships. I also want to take all the opportunity I can to

talk to my patients and their families and engage in the harder conversations. As I

continue my education and become a nurse I want to try and provide my patients with the

best possible care I can and make them feel like a partner in their own care.
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References

Abdrbo, A. (2017). Assessment of nursing students’ communication skills. Nursing

Education Perspectives, 38(3), 149-151.

http://dx.doi.org.cat1.lib.trentu.ca:8080/10.1097/01.NEP.0000000000000126

Retrieved from http://p2048-

web2.trentu.ca.cat1.lib.trentu.ca:8080/login?url=https://search-proquest-

com.cat1.lib.trentu.ca/docview/1918319627?accountid=14391

Wittenberg-Lyles, E., Goldsmith, J., & Ferrell, B. (2013). Oncology Nurse

Communication Barriers to Patient-Centered Care. Clinical Journal Of Oncology

Nursing, 17(2), 152-158.