Interpersonal communication: It's relevance to nursing practice

Abstract

An interaction by which a nurse becomes increasingly sensitive to and aware of the clients' state of being, of the dynamic relationship between clients' potentiality to perceive and be understood by the nurse is very fundamental to health-care. Evidence abound in health-care practices that poor interpersonal communication creates a negative gap between the Nurse and her clients / patients, bringing about misunderstanding, loss of self identity and confidence. These often result in dissatisfaction in the part of the clients / patients as well as ineffective healthcare. Therefore, the need to assess the relevance of interpersonal communication between a Nurse and his/her clients /patients becomes necessary. This paper is aimed at highlighting how essential interpersonal communication is necessary for establishing rapport, understanding the needs of the patients and planning effective intervention for meeting holistic health care. To be continually relevant, Nurses have to improve on their communication skills to meet the challenges of constantly changing clients base.