Case Study Of Patient With Depression: History For Nurse And Patient Interaction Assessment 3 Answer

Answer :

An effective and efficient care in nursing is possible through a focus on patient-centred communication. Through skilled techniques of interactions, with a perfect balance of verbal and non-verbal communication techniques and including the elements of care and empathy can go a long way in helping nurses to develop trustworthy relationships with patients. Such communication helps in developing a therapeutic relationship enabling the caregiver to ask appropriate questions, taking clues from non-verbal body language and ensure patient safety during the process of care. The case study of Chester Abioye, 19-year-old high smoker with issues of depression is used for explaining the importance of professional communication and person-centred approach in the field of nursing. 

The communication between nurse and patient should have a balance of verbal and non-verbal communication making it more or therapeutic in nature. Here the focus is on listening to the patient and comprehending as well as retaining the provided information (Hill et al., 2014). Such information must then be used to respond in caring in an appropriate manner. Verbal communication help in knowing more about the geographical and ethnic origin of the patient and help to assess the person knows and feels (Hill et al., 2014). Non-verbal communication is related with body language indicating the hidden meanings of what is being verbally said. 

In the case of Chester Abioye, it is required to maintain good eye contact to avoid distractions and showing a genuine interest while replying to his loneliness in a caring manner. The active listening techniques will help in developing a mutual trust and gaining more knowledge about his feelings about daily routine, lifestyle and preferred changes to improve his quality of life. Non-verbal communication help in gaining the trust of the patient by considering his demographic status and educational level helping the nurse to understand the areas of assistance and improvement. Discussing with Abioye reveals that he doesn’t want any sympathetic attitude from the carer as he has been living independently since long. However, his facial expression remained tense indicating the need of investigating his feelings and situation further. There was a lack of congruence between his verbal and non-verbal communication. 

Therefore professional communication help nurses to focus on individual needs of patients and educating them to promote self-care (Hill et al., 2014). Here, proper communication paves the pay for implementing safe, therapeutic and person-centred approach to care. 

While providing care to a client or patient, it is necessary to focus on person-centeredness through establishment of caring relationship based on mutual trust and collective knowledge and information sharing (Rossom et al., 2016). As discussed by Abdolarahim et al. (2017), person-centred approach allows involvement of families and patient to plan realistic goals of care and allows the caregiver to plan the strategies according to patient’s cultural background, values and beliefs. This is focused on a holistic approach of human caring where health is promoted along with better quality of living. A relationship between the caregiver and the patient becomes therapeutic in nature when it’s used for promotion and restoration of the overall well being of the individual (Abdolarahim et al., 2017). Here the trust is built up without any use of power and remaining non-judgemental and respectful towards the patient. 

In the case of Chester Abioye, it is possible to follow a patient-centred approach by understanding his lifestyle and adjusting the changes as per his choice and preferences. He is living without any family members and therefore it is important to help him indulge in some group activities like going to gym, meeting people facing similar issues, hobby classes etc. This will help him to bring in some positive change to his lifestyle, reduce the habit of smoking and increase the movement instead of limiting himself to home. A healthy relationship with the patient will make him feel values and participate in his treatment and care plan thereby increasing the chances of improving his overall well-being. Here it is important to solicit patient preferences for care and providing treatment plans with proposed changes that Abioye can take-up at his own pace. He cannot be forced to quit smoking and drinking, but needs o bring some positive change with the help of the nurse to increase his outings with friends and reduce time on watching television and smoking. 

At the same time it is also important to properly document the responses obtained from the patient that helps in defining the further strategy to interact and offer lifestyle changes (Levitt-Hones et al., 2014). In the case of Chester Abioye, a documentation of his previous experiences with family members, current feelings about his lifestyle and future plans will help the nurse to guide him through a proper path of bringing in changes and making healthily lifestyle choices. 

This essay discusses the importance of professional communication and following a person-centred approach to provide proper patient care and ensure effective outcomes. Here, it is clear that patient-centred interaction helps in building trust between the patients and their care givers while assisting their families to make quality care available for the patients. It is necessary that nurses explore, understand the focus on specific needs and preferences of patients in relation to lifestyle changes, and introducing healthy practices to improve overall well being and quality of life. This clarifies that person-centred approach is the effective tool assisting in developing a trustworthy relationship thereby allowing nurses to deliver quality care to patients under a safe and responsive environment.