There are many examples of ineffective communication when caring for a patient. Currently fresh on my mind is how and when we communicate discharge instructions to a patient. Unfortunately, the discharge planning process is unstructured, fragmented, and disorganized (Minott, 2008) which leads to untoward outcomes in many instances (Jencks, Williams, & Coleman, 2009). Therefore, in order to achieve effective results and provide quality care to patients, nurses must possess excellent communication skills (Kourkouta & Papathanasiou,2014). It is important to remember when the nurse sends the message is not the same as the message the patient receives, which has to do with the decoding aspect of communication. The channel of communication in
