2.2 Communication Introduction

Strong communication skills are essential to provide safe, quality, patient-centered care. Nurses develop therapeutic relationships with patients and family members each day to ensure that health care concerns and needs are addressed. If communication breaks down, information exchange stops and needs go unidentified. Nurses optimize communication channels with patients and families by establishing trust and actively listening to health care concerns. Additionally, the nurse is vital for ensuring that information transfer occurs within the multidisciplinary team. Communication with other health care team members is professional, organized, accurate, complete, and concise. This chapter will review methods for establishing good communication.

Before getting started, view the following video, Empathy: The Human Connection to Patient Care, and reflect on the often invisible needs of those around us and the difference we can make by creating caring human connections.

Attribution

This section contains material taken from Nursing Fundamentals 2e by Chippewa Valley Technical College and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.