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Communication Techniques for Nurses and Doctors

7 Basic Communication Techniques for Nurses and Doctors: Part 2

by Jim Manierre on November 11, 2009 in Nursing Communication, Workplace Strategies

Communication Techniques for Nurses and DoctorsOn Monday, we began this 2-part discussion on communication in the healthcare workplace. More to the point, techniques to improve communication between nurses and doctors. It would seem that as long as there have been nurses and doctors, there have been issues stemming from poor or inconsistent communication. This struggle forces many on both sides to dislike their workplace and profession or to become bitter and lose sight of the end-goal: quality patient care. In part one, I discussed 3 techniques to improve communication – effective speaking, effective listening and feedback. Today we will discuss 4 more techniques, and hopefully provide you with the right information to make progress in your workplace communication skills!

Nonverbal Signals

When anyone talks, the words and sounds produced are only a small fraction of the overall conversation. Your physical presence makes all the difference in the world. Many of us know this as “body language,” but technically speaking, your physical contributions to a conversation are considered nonverbal signals. You make facial expressions, your hands move, you settle into a specific posture or stance – all of these things affect how others perceive your mood and the true meaning of the words coming from your mouth.

More often than not, we ignore these nonverbal signals and miss out on deeper or possibly even subliminal meanings in the things being said to us. What can you do to capitalize on nonverbal signals? Make eye contact. Practice those effective listening skills we learned earlier in the week, focus on the people speaking to you and look for the subtle clues. Look at hand gestures, are their arms folded, do they smile quickly or hold onto a smile for way too long? Pay attention to these red flags – typically, the message being delivered by those nonverbal signals are much more accurate than anything coming from someone’s mouth!

Emotional Effect

Communication is a complex, fickle process isn’t it? To complicate things even more, you must be aware and sensitive to the emotions of those you are communicating with. More importantly, you need to be proactive in engaging in communication that actually shares emotion. The two factors at play here are “I” and “you” statements. “I” statements immediately make your communication personal, and therefore set with emotion. These statements are immediately perceived by those you are communicating with and will set them at ease to be forthcoming with their own honest, emotional language. What should you avoid? Well, “you” statements! When starting a conversation off with “you,” it immediately places a sense of judgment or blame onto the other person and will trigger a defensive response – effectively killing what could’ve been a great conversation.

Assertiveness

I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes here, but my opinion is that assertiveness is the biggest reason for poor communication between nurses and doctors. Social stigmas, pre-defined roles, you name it – all of these things have positioned doctors as individuals to be revered and considered more important than the nurses and surrounding staff. Conversely, nurses are not as important and should simply do their duty and let the doctor’s have the final word. This is a dangerous recipe for communication – anytime someone has the upper-hand, that position will be abused and both parties will suffer. Everyone should communicate with assertiveness. Be honest, use direct language and defend your position and rights in a positive way. That being said, this is not a war cry for taking a stand and ignoring the needs and requests of your co-workers. Being assertive is simply a tool for you to use to let those communicating with you know that you mean business and that everyone has a right to their opinion! Remember your nonverbal signals here too – maintain direct eye contact and sit/stand straight.

Handling Conflict

All of the techniques we’ve discussed up to this point will improve your workplace communication and allow positive relationships to build between doctors and nurses. However, they are not the “perfect drug” and conflicts can and will still happen. It’s how you handle the conflict that will prove whether you have actually strengthened those relationships or not! When conflict arises, don’t panic – and most importantly – don’t ignore it. Deal with conflict immediately and put all of your great communication skills to use. Everyone involved in a conflict should participate in a discussion where the conflict is brought to light, everyone has a chance to share their opinion and feelings, everyone has a chance to offer a solution to the problem and in the end, a solution should be decided upon by all of those individuals. Democracy at work, folks! It may seem silly, or a time-suck in a busy day, but it works. Trust me… it really works.

So, that’s 7 communication techniques to improve workplace relationships between nurses and doctors. It isn’t a perfect system, but these 7 techniques will go a long way to helping you build meaningful, lasting relationships with ALL of your co-workers, not just the doctors. It will take time and practice to make everything work, but your patience with the process will reap huge rewards. Good luck!

Photo courtesy of kevindooley at Flickr.

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angrynurse

7 Basic Communication Techniques for Nurses and Doctors: Part 1

by Jim Manierre on November 9, 2009 in Nursing Communication, Workplace Strategies

angrynurse

A lot can be said about communication issues between nurses and the doctors they work for/with. Misunderstandings, lack of patience and ineffective communication skills abound. Perhaps nurses and doctors each have their roles and they should just go with the flow. Or maybe everyone should realize that communication is a 2-way street and that small changes in behavior can go a long way to creating stimulating professional relationships in the healthcare workplace. Over the next 2 days I’ll be discussing techniques to improve communication between nurses and doctors.

Research has been completed, seminars have been delivered and nursing students have all sat through communication courses – but still there are issues. Rather then complicating an already complicated situation, I feel that the quickest way to improve communication is to get back to the basics. Here are the first 3 of 7  basic communication techniques that nurses and doctors can use to get along:

Effective Speaking

You don’t have to be an accomplished public speaker or the most engaging conversationalist, but what you can do is use your deep knowledge and understanding of your profession to offer something to the conversation. Using your knowledge, take a moment to cull your thoughts before speaking so that those listening will truly understand what you have to say.

Effective Listening

When your nursing peers or doctors are effectively speaking to you, pay attention. This is more labor intensive than it seems. Focus on the speaker so that you are tuned in to body language and facial expressions – which carry much more meaning than the words by themselves. If you are busy doing something else and choose not to really focus on the speaker, you are likely to miss out on the true meaning of the conversation and create an unnecessary misunderstanding. When you are spoken to, stop what you are doing and listen with your ears and eyes.

Feedback

Remember when I mentioned communication was a 2-way street? Well, feedback is where this idea comes to play. Feedback happens in two ways: internally and externally. It’s difficult, nay impossible, to control the internal response (i.e. the way a particular word or phrase evokes an emotion or memory). But it is possible to control the external response. Negative feedback includes withdrawing from the conversation, offering judgmental or over-analytical responses – all of which lead to the speaker becoming defensive or offended. Positive feedback includes reassurance, questioning (when done in a productive manner), and paraphrasing – all of which lead to a stronger conversation and both parties feeling confident in the outcome of the interaction.

Speaking, listening and providing feedback. Not to difficult, right? So, the next time you have a conversation with a fellow nurse or a doctor – think about these techniques and use them. I bet you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the outcome! Check back in tomorrow when I’ll continue discussing communication techniques with non-verbal signals, emotional effect, assertiveness and handling conflict.

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