Therapeutic Communication: A Case Study

According to Jasmine (2009), there are many aspects involved in therapeutic communication. The first therapeutic communication skill is listening, which is not only actively listening to a patient but also displaying a readiness to listen and being physically present. This can be shown through good posture, facial expression and eyes contact. This demonstrates a nurse’s genuine interest in the patient. It is important that nurses focus on the patient rather than any tasks at hand to establish a healthy therapeutic relationship. One it is established that the nurses is actively listening, the nurse must then use exploring, which involves the use of effective questioning techniques. This helps the nurse to probe deeper into the issues concerning a patient and facilitates a better understanding of the patient. Questioning also enables the development of a deeper nurse-patient relationship, which is essential in promoting therapeutic healing in patients. Given that therapeutic communication is especially important when caring for a psychiatric patient, it is important that nurses home their therapeutic communication skills so that they are adaptable to different situations. A patient’s answer to a nurse’s question may not be predictable, especially when they are escalating and becoming more agitated. By building rapport with a patient through effective therapeutic communication, …show more content…
One setting in which depression can be especially situational is oncology. Given that patients on an oncology floor tend to receive tend to receive bad news regarding their illness, therapeutic communication is especially important in order to effectively identify and begin treating depression related to their diagnosis. Baer & Weinstein (2013) identified how strong communication skills play a pivotal role in influencing patient satisfaction, adherence to plans of care, and overall patient