Patient Communication

Nursing professionals do not only communicate with others within their organizations—often, they are also the first point of contact with patients. Thus, nursing professionals need superior communication skills to explain procedures and medication instructions, as well as to listen to what patients need to say.
  
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:

Competency 2: Describe the concepts, processes, and tools required to conduct comprehensive health assessments for individuals, families, communities, and populations.       

Recommend evidence-based strategies to improve nurse-client/patient communication.
Explain how nurse-client/patient communication strategies consider individual demographics.

Competency 3: Explain the internal and external factors that can affect the health of individuals, families, communities, and populations.       

Describe the types of communication that occur between nurses and clients/patients.
Explain the factors that influence the communication experience between nurses and clients/patients.
Explain how the client/patient communication experience can impact health care outcomes.

Prepare a 3–4-page report on nurse-patient communication in which you address types of communication, factors that influence the communication experience, and how the patient experience affects health outcomes. Recommend evidence-based strategies to improve nurse-patient communication and explain how the strategies consider patient demographics.

Assessment Instructions 
  
Imagine that, in an effort to reduce the number of patient complaints about nursing staff, organizational leadership has asked your department to prepare some preliminary research on a number of different topics. Your topic is patient communication, such as the following:

The types of communication that take place between nurses and patients.
The factors that can influence both positive and negative experiences.
How the experience can impact health care outcomes.
Strategies that can improve the communication between nurses and patients.

Preparation
Search the Capella library  or the Internet for peer-reviewed journal articles or other professional resources on the topic of effective communication with patients. You will need at least 3 resources to support your work in this assessment.
Directions
Prepare a report on patient-nurse communication in which you include the following:

Describe the types of communication that take place between nurses and clients/patients. Do not forget to consider types of communication beyond verbal and written on paper.
Explain the factors that influence positive and negative experiences during the communication process. (Hint: Consider the experiences of both the client/patient and the nurse. Also, consider things such as age, gender, culture, and so on, of both the client/patient and the nurse.)
Explain how the client/patient experience can impact health care outcomes.
Recommend evidence-based strategies for improving communication between client/patients and nurses.
Explain how the strategies consider different client/patient demographics.

Format this assessment as a report that you would give to your supervisor. It may be helpful for you to review how your organization formats internal reports and incorporate your findings. You are still required to adhere to APA guidelines for in-text citations and references, as well as for formatting your reference page.
Additional Requirements

Include a title page and a reference page.
Ensure your assessment is 3–4 pages in length.
Use double-spaced, 12-pt., Times New Roman font.