For a nurse practitioner, good and effective communication in healthcare means approaching each of the patients’ interactions with the focus on understanding their concerns, opinions, and experiences. Communication includes the use of both verbal as well as non-verbal skills along with active listening. Communication happens to be an extremely important part of almost all healthcare jobs, especially in the case of nurse practitioners. Here is a list of six effective communication skills for nurse practitioners.
Verbal Communication
Superior verbal communication is essentially the key to effective communication. It is necessary to speak with clarity and accuracy. At the same time, it is also important to know about the audience and speak appropriately as per the age of the patients, their culture, and health literacy level.
Non-Verbal Communication
Along with appropriate verbal communication skills, non-verbal communication skills are equally important. Making the correct use of non-verbal elements like gestures, facial expressions, body language, postures, and tone of voice is extremely important in healthcare jobs to build rapport with the patients. A simple smile can also go a long way and hence a key skill towards effective communication. As the pandemic has posed a mandate on masks, this type of communication can be much more difficult.
Active Listening
Active listening, as can be understood from the name, refers to listening actively to patients. Effective listening needs complete engagement as well as attention, and this skill is crucial for not only any nurse practitioner but also other healthcare providers. Active listening happens to be a crucial tool for building trust and commitment with their staff.
Presentation Skills
Presentation skills are also an important component for a nurse practitioner. Effective presentation skills are most applicable at the time of handover of tasks or patient care to another member or other healthcare workers in Ontario. These skills help demonstrate the knowledge, as well as, expertise in a variety of settings in the healthcare environment.
Educating Patients
It is important to keep in mind that all patients do not have the same level of healthcare education. Hence, it is extremely necessary to educate the patients as per the specific requirements. It is the nurse practitioners that are in charge of communication between the healthcare team and patients. This includes informing the patients as well as their family members regarding the exact health conditions, diagnosis, treatment procedure, and medication needs.
Written Communication
Finally, written communication is another crucial skill that nurse practitioners should possess. Since as a nurse, it is their responsibility to create and update medical records. Thus, to make sure that the medical records are up to date without compromising on accuracy, written communication skills happen to be extremely crucial.
Now, it is quite clear about the skills that are extremely important if any aspirant needs to know how to become a nurse practitioner. So, acquire the skills and land up on your dream job.
