Communication Skills

Communication Skills

By
Dr. Nadia Bassuoni

Associate Professor of Maternal and Newborn Health Nursing

College of Applied Medical Science
Jouf University
 Professional communication skills
 Any health care professional must have effective interpersonal skills

 in order to have successful interaction with other people.

 Essential interpersonal skills for the healthcare professionals include:

1. Tactfulness (Polite) and Diplomacy

2. Courtesy and Respect

3. Empathy

4. Genuineness

5. Appropriate self-disclosure.

6. Assertiveness versus Aggressiveness

 Essential interpersonal skills for the healthcare
professionals

1. Tactfulness (Polite) and Diplomacy

o Letting someone know that you do not agree with them in a
tactful and diplomatic way
o E.g. your colleague gossiping about another colleague to
you-------how should you remove yourself from the situation
without hurting that colleague
o “ this is probably something I should not know, and
besides, I have to attend to some of my patients, please
excuse me”
 Essential interpersonal skills for the healthcare
professionals cont.
2. Courtesy and Respect
•E.g. making room at the table in the nursing station for
another nurse to sit down to write their notes.
•Asking patient if they need anything while they are waiting
for examination
•Offering to get a blanket for the patient who looks a bit cold
while setting in a wheel chair
 Essential interpersonal skills for the healthcare
professionals cont.
• Respect: you show that you value that person.

• When other people feel that you respect them they feel that they are important to you.

• By giving them your undivided attention when interacting with them.

• Nonverbally by:

o Shaking hands with others

o Maintaining good posture toward them when they speak to you

o Facing them

o Appropriate eye contact

• You can do that verbally :

Using appropriate title when talking to them

Using their name

 Essential interpersonal skills for the healthcare
professionals cont.

3. Empathy: to show that you understand how another

person feel to the point of feeling
oYou show empathy to colleague by showing that you
carefully listen to what they tell you and that you do your best
to understand
oTo patient by showing them that you are paying attention to
everything they attempt to communicate to you and
effectively paraphrasing back to them what they have said.
 Essential interpersonal skills for the healthcare
professionals cont.

4. Genuineness: is to be completely yourself when dealing

with others, to be completely open and honest in all of your
words and actions.

•Patient feel your genuineness when:

o Show them courtesy, respect, and empathy and you

show them that you are doing your very best to serve
them and their needs.
 Essential interpersonal skills for the healthcare
professionals cont.

5. Appropriate self-disclosure: You should be thoughtful

and cautious about when and how you do this.

In self-disclosing to the patient, you should be careful not

to do:
o Telling story about yourself for the sake of just telling
a story about yourself
o Telling a story that is not about you but about a
person the patient does not know
o Removing the focus in any way from the patient
 Essential interpersonal skills for the healthcare
professionals cont.

6. Assertiveness versus Aggressiveness

•Being assertive: is to be able to comfortably and confidently
express your ideas, opinions, and feelings while still
respecting the ideas, opinions, and feelings of others
•Stand up for what you believe in right without feeling anxious
of what others might think of you.
 Communication Skills
1. Attending skills

2. Listening skills

3. Questioning skills

4. Encouraging cues

5. Observation skills
 1- Attending skills
 Attending refers to the ways in which nurses can be “with”
their patients, both physically and psychologically.
 Effective attending tells clients that you are with them and
that they can share their world with you.
 Effective attending also puts you in a position to listen
carefully to what your clients are saying.
 The acronym S.O.L.E.R can be used to help you to show
your inner attitudes and values of respect and genuineness
towards a patient.
 1- Attending skills cont.

 S.O.L.E.R :Is a technique to help improve your

communication skills, in particular, your active listening skills.

This will help assist more effective communication.

 Square :
o Squarely face your client.

o A desk between you and your patient may, for instance,

create a psychological barrier between you.
o
 1- Attending skills cont.

 Open :

Open body position involves avoiding crossing arms and legs,

these are often interpreted as defensive or shutting down
 Leaning :

A slight forward lean indicates an eagerness to learn more

 Eye Contact :

When listening most people maintain good eye contact and this
encourages speakers to continue
 1- Attending skills cont.

 Relaxed :

A relaxed posture is important, otherwise the

communication will seem artificial
S.O.L.E.R
 2- Listening skills

Proper listening responses may

•Develop rapport, build an effective helping relationship

•Facilitate the sharing of stories and feelings

•Foster an understanding of the client

•Correct any misconceptions during communication

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 2- Listening skills cont.

 Active listening involves the following four skills:

1. Listening to and understanding the patient's verbal
messages.
• The nurse has to listen to the mix of experiences, behavior
and feelings the patient uses to describe his or her problem
situation. Also “hear” what the patient is not saying.
 2- Listening skills cont.

2. Listening to and interpreting the client's nonverbal messages.

•Nurse should learn how to listen to and read nonverbal
messages such as:
•Bodily behavior (posture, body movement and gestures), facial
expressions (smiles, frowns, raised eyebrows, twisted lips),
voice?
 2- Listening skills cont.

• Related behavior as tone, pitch, voice level, intensity,

inflection, spacing of words, emphases, pauses, silences
and fluency.
• observable physiological responses as quickened breathing,
a temporary rash, blushing, paleness, pupil dilation.
• General appearance as grooming and dress

• physical appearance as fitness, height, weight, complexion.

Nurses need to learn how to “read” these messages without
distorting or over interpreting them.
 2- Listening skills cont.
3. Listening to and understanding the client in context.

The nurse should listen to the whole person in the context of his or
her social settings.

4. Listening with empathy.

Empathic listening involves attending, observing and listening (“being

with”) in such a way that the nurse develops an understanding of the
patient and his or her world. The nurse should put his or her own
concerns aside to be fully “with” their patients.
•
 2- Listening skills cont.

Common examples of skilled listening responses:

1.Use of silence

2.Reflecting

27
 2- Listening skills cont.

1. Use of silence
o Is a powerful listening response that allows the patient to
think and allows you to step back momentarily
When the patient falls silent, it can mean that something has
touched him/her profoundly.
Allow the patient to fall silent and sit with him/her without breaking
the mood.
Patients often marvel at a willingness to accompany them quietly

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 2- Listening skills cont.

2. Reflecting
oIs the process of paraphrasing and restating both the feelings
and words of the speaker.
oIt helps the patient to identify feelings that he/she may not be
aware of.
oMay facilitate introspection and self-understanding if the patient
hears his/her own words in a slightly different way •
o paraphrased statement is shorter and a bit more specific than
the patient's original statement.
 3- Questioning Skills

Questions are an important form of communication in

performing assessment and building rapport with the patients.
We use questions for a variety of reasons, for example:
o to show that we are listening
o to encourage patients to disclose information
o to join in the conversation
o to explore and clarify situations, etc.
 3- Questioning Skills cont.

Questions can simply be categorized into:

o open-ended questions
o close-ended questions

Skillful use of both type of questions is important in

communication.
 3- Questioning Skills cont.
Open-ended question
o Similar to an essay question
o Is open for patients to interpret
o Cannot be answered by "yes" or "no" or a one-word
response
o Allows patients to express in their own words.
o usually begin with "how," "what," "where," "when," or
"can you tell me about...?"
How are you feeling?
Can you describe the pain?
 3- Questioning Skills cont.

Close-ended questions
o Intended to elicit specific and brief responses

o Limit patient’s expression of feeling

o Ensure interviews are keep on right track

Patients with limited social skills often respond better to close-

ended questions.
When was your last meal?
Does the pain radiate down your left shoulder and arm?
 4. Encouraging Cues

Nonverbal cues are a supplemental way of building an effective

relationship.

Simple nonverbal cues and brief verbal responses convey the

impression that you are attentive and interested in what is
being shared. They may finally encourage the patients to share.

Non-verbal skills as smiling, nodding, etc.

Brief verbal responses as mm-hmm," okay. I see," "go on," etc.

 4. Encouraging Cues cont.

• Non-verbal skills •

For example: –smiling, nodding, etc.

• Brief verbal responses •

For example: –"mm-hmm," "gotcha," okay." "I see," "go

on," etc.

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 5. Observation Skills
Messages are transmitted
o 55% by body language

o 38% by tone of voice

o 7% by words.
Body language = Nonverbal communication
o gesture

o body movement

o use of touch

o physical appearance
 5. Observation Skills cont.

Nonverbal communication:
• Conveys more information about what a person is feeling
than what is actually said
• Nonverbal behavior is less likely to be controlled
consciously than verbal behavior
• Observing and interpreting nonverbal behavior is
important in communication.
 5. Observation Skills cont.

Basic observation skills

• How is the posture?
• How is eye contact?
•What is the facial expression?
• What is the tone of voice?
• Any special body movement, e.g., arm crossing, looking
here and there?