Therapeutic Communication

[3rdGenRN]

Interpersonal communication is by far my weakest aspect in nursing school. I knew it coming in, I took a course directed at it for my communications prerequisite, and I have been trying on my own to get better at it. I feel like I'm at a stalemate though. I'm halfway through 2nd semester, about to start my 3rd rotation, and I don't feel like I'm getting it at all. My didactic exams show it, my debriefs for skills tests and SIMs show it, and that's been the weakest spot by FAR on my HESIs.

My next rotation is psych and I'm worried that this is going to be a huge barrier for me. I know a big piece of the rotation is to help us learn that, but I feel like I'm way behind the starting line of my classmates in this piece.

Does anyone have any suggestions how I can work on this?

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

Have you talked to an advisor or instructor about your weak points? Have you identified them yourself? Remember the nusing process, assessment is always first. And that is what you really want the patient to do - talk till he/she discovers on their own how to verbalize their condition or emotions.

I think a lot of people forget that the communiation should be therapeutic to the patient, not the nurse. That means not quizzing people, cutting them off, not being attentive, talking about yourself---these are NOT therapeutic.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

You want a reference to help you with "active listening." Look that up and see what you find.

As Yogi Berra said, "You can observe a lot by looking." The corollary is, "You can hear a lot by listening." :)

[vanilla bean]

I'm going to also suggest that you never let an opportunity to practice go by. Just like the other skills you're learning in school, you get better with practice. Take every available opportunity to practice this new skill set while on your psych rotation. Don't shy away from engaging with the clients/patients you will have access to. For me, I think I learned the most about therapeutic communication while doing my psych clinicals. As GrnTea suggested, "active listening" will be an invaluable skill to learn (and the one I needed to most learn, as I wanted to fill every awkward silence with chatter).