Optimising professional communication with patients
Intended for healthcare professionals
CPD    

Optimising professional communication with patients

Bob Price Independent health services training consultant, Surrey, England

Why you should read this article
  • To recognise the importance of communicating effectively with patients to optimise their outcomes and enhance their experience

  • To enhance your knowledge of the principles and methods that you can use to inform your approach to communicating effectively with patients

  • To count towards revalidation as part of your 35 hours of CPD, or you may wish to write a reflective account (UK readers)

  • To contribute towards your professional development and local registration renewal requirements (non-UK readers)

Communication between a nurse and a patient may seem intuitive. However, communicating effectively with patients while applying the principles of person-centred care can be challenging. Patients’ perceptions of suboptimal care and healthcare services may be influenced by how nurses communicate with them, since communication may be used as a quality indicator, as well as an indicator of patient experience. This article considers how nurses can communicate effectively with patients to optimise care. It explores the theoretical principles of interpersonal and professional communication, and discusses practical methods of listening and speaking to patients that nurses can apply in their clinical practice.

Nursing Standard. doi: 10.7748/ns.2020.e11457

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

altanprice@sky.com

Conflict of interest

None declared

Price B (2020) Optimising professional communication with patients. Nursing Standard. doi: 10.7748/ns.2020.e11457

Published online: 06 January 2020

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