Professional Communication and Health Assessment Notes

QUT acknowledges the Turrbal and Yugara people as the First Nations owners of the lands where QUT stands.
Respect is paid to their Elders, lores, customs, and creation spirits.
These lands have always been places of teaching, research, and learning.
QUT acknowledges the important role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people play within the QUT community.

Understand how to practice safe professional communication.
Understand the process of developing a caring relationship with patients and their families.
Safely and effectively take a patient’s health history using health assessment interviewing techniques (Joining, working, termination stages).
Understand how to legally and professionally document a holistic health assessment.

Factors Affecting Communication:
- Factors Common to All Communicators:
  - Understanding the purpose of the interaction.
  - Language and meaning.
  - Verbal/non-verbal messages.
  - Send/receive messages.
  - Overcoming barriers.
  - Negotiating mutual understanding.
  - Common understanding of words.
- Possible Internal Factors:
  - Age.
  - Gender.
  - Personality.
  - Values, beliefs, and culture.
  - Positive and negative emotions.
  - Knowledge and understanding.
  - Particular disorders and pain.
  - Ability-hearing and cognition.
  - Background and life experiences.
- Possible External Factors:
  - Context: including surroundings, noise, temperature, light, phone.
  - Existing relationship.
  - Privacy and confidentiality.
  - Time pressures.
Healthcare Professional:
- Self/Person aware.
- Consider needs of the Person.
- Flexible and humble attitude.
- Reflective.
- Age.
- Gender.
- Values and Beliefs.
- Culture.
- Negative emotions/vulnerability.
- Unique needs and expectations.
- Prior healthcare experience.
Community/Family/Person:
- Age.
- Gender.
- Values and Beliefs.
- Culture.
Communication Model Foundation: Is there an existing relationship?
*Note: Person/s is used to describe all those relating to the healthcare professional during practice, including other employees and colleagues.

Effective communication is vital to ensure that nursing care provided to an individual meets their needs and wishes.
It is not just about sharing information but should also encourage the person to talk freely about their concerns without fear or judgment.
Communication is essential for quality healthcare and an individual’s safety and is a key component of the Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights.

Professional Communication: Communication that promotes the best possible health care; that is person-centred.
*Within the the nursing codes of conduct and ethics,
Nursing standards for practice, and professional policies.
Key aspects:
- Courtesy and use of names (introduce self and role).
- Privacy and Confidentiality.
- Trustworthiness.
- Respect.

"Hello my name is… " is a simple phrase that should be used at the start of a healthcare relationship.
It recognizes that healthcare is an interaction and relationship between two human beings.

Therapeutic communication occurs when a nurse uses verbal and non-verbal communication techniques in a goal-directed way, ensuring the healthcare needs of patients remain the central focus.
It is built on:
- Trust.
- Authenticity.
- Empathy.
- Self-awareness.
Nurses who communicate therapeutically:
- Listen to understand.
- Establish appropriate professional boundaries.
- Maintain a non-judgemental stance.
- Are ‘fully present’ with the patient.

The nurse should:
- Introduce themselves.
- Explain who they are, their role in the organization, and the purpose of the interaction.
- Explain to the person that their needs are central to the relationship.
- Always enable informed choice.
- Gain informed consent.
Strategies to build rapport:
- Relaxed but interested and non-judgemental approach; open attitude.
- Overriding respect for the client’s perspective (understanding their perspective).
- Engaging behaviors of looking attentive, leaning forward, open body posture, eye contact, encouragement.
- Similar facial expressions, intonations, emotions, speech rates, mirroring body postures and gestures, mannerisms.

Multidimensional Nursing care: actions nurses undertake to take ‘care’ of a person.
Feeling ‘cared for’ - feeling safe and valued.
Caring relationships – therapeutic, collaborative.
Positive emotions & reduced stress lead to improved physical health.
Patient-centred care.
Enables nurses to:
- Identify health care needs.
- Collaborate effectively.
- Mutually problem solve.
- Continuously learn.
- Be innovative, and
- Advance nursing practice.

Person-centred care is embedded throughout all of the Standards developed by the Commission, including the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards and the Primary and Community Healthcare Standards, reflecting its importance to the safety and quality of health care.
A wide range of resources and information are available to help healthcare organizations understand and implement best-practice person-centred care.

Family centred care:
- Recognizes that the health care of a patient happens within the context of their family.
- Initially from a pediatric perspective, but has been extended to all ages.
Family as Context:
- Primary focus is on the individual/person.
- Family – how the family may support and influence the individual’s health and well-being.
Family as client:
- Family functioning as the focus of care.
- Family assessment.
- Genogram (family tree; genetic links).
- Ecomap (contact between family members; quality of relationships).