Wednesday 8 October 2014

Care and communication- we can't have one without the other!

Have you ever been a patient?

I ask because until you have been a patient , I truly don't believe you can fully understand what it is like to be in that position yourself .

How did I feel being a patient? The truth is very scared, I am used to being in control, active, working and of reasonable good health.  When something starts to go wrong all of that changes and for me I felt vulnerable, weak and scared.

When in this position you are relying on others to understand, help, comfort and make you feel listened to and safe.

As health care professionals we are in a very privileged position in that we care for individuals often when they are at their most vulnerable and feeling scared. What they need from us is to know they are safe, listened too, cared for and that we understand how they may be feeling.

I know how it feels to be scared, not knowing if you will ever get better again, ever go to work again, or be able to care for your family.  Everyone that we nurse has a different story and reason for being there and the only way we will know this is to listen to them and hear their story. For that story can be the key to their recovery and give us such great insight into their life and in turn their health.

The common theme in all of this is communication, I believe it underpins the chief nursing officers 6c's

Communication is a core competence and for me the most important one for without this skill how can we deliver the others.

Every one working in care individuals and organisations should make communication their priority for without this key skill how can we provide safe care?








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