Effective Communication in Nursing Practice A literature review
Background Communication is almost a natural involuntary action to nearly all, hence the importance of it's effectiveness could be easily overlooked. Since communication is an integral part of nursing, a medium through nurses relate with patients, therefore an ineffetive communication skills would have positive impact on the quality of healthcare output. This study aims to explore effective communication, it's barriers, how it relates to and affects health and also to find the means to improve effective communication in health care settings. Research methodology: This work is a product of a literature review, which was done on the of basis of the writer's established inclusion and exclusion criteria. The sources of article are EBSCO, PubMed, SAGE, and Science Direct. In total 12 articles were selected for the analysis. The data analysis was according to Graneheim and Lundman (2004) qualitative content analysis and the findings were also sturcturally narrated using imductive content analysis technique. Results The review indicated that effective coomunication directly impacts the health and satisfaction of patients. It also indicates that most barriers to effective communication are associted with the characteristics of healthcare providers and patients. More trainings need to be organised to educate nurses about the professional use of effective communication; awareness of nurses' own characteristics and strategies to understand patients's cues and characteristics. Conclusion The review indicates that the use of effective communication skill in healthcare settings does not only benefit patients it also benefits healthcare providers in the aspect of their and job satisfaction and health.