Build your skills in communication with a scientific, competency-based approach! Essentials of Nursing Communication helps you gain communication knowledge and develop observable communication skills/behaviors in nursing. This text goes beyond an anecdotal, soft skills approach to communication. It integrates the COMFORT model with the concepts and domains of the 2021 AACN Essentials, covering key topics like professionalism, DEI, and person-centered care. Standards and learning objectives for undergraduate nurse communication training are scaffolded across chapters, implementing the gold-standard approach to competency-based learning to help you communicate effectively in todays nursing practice.
The four concepts in the 2021 AACN Essentials are integrated throughout the text, covering communication, clinical judgment, compassionate care, and diversity/equity/inclusion; the 10 domains are also included Essentials Spotlight graphics depict the junction of the Essentials domains with communication science and related skills The COMFORT model - a model created, researched, and applied by the authors - focuses on nurse communication in healthcare, with this acronym standing for: Connect, Options, Making meaning, Family caregivers, Openings, Relating, and Team Theory at Work directly applies theory to communication dynamics and challenges in actual nursing contexts Communicate with COMFORT integrates the COMFORT model into chapters across the text, linking communication science to the clinical communication practices of the nurse Communication Matters Across the Four Spheres of Care describes nursing communication in these four areas: Wellness and Disease Prevention, Chronic Disease Care, Regenerative/Restorative Care, and Hospice/Palliative Care Nurse Forward highlights the voices and stories of nurses advancing the field of nursing, elevating the role of the nurse as well as opportunities in leadership Self-care content includes reflections from nurses and nursing students Learning features reinforce chapter objectives with key terms, competencies, critical thinking engagements, boxed features/callouts, and charts/diagrams
SECTION I Communication and Person-Centered Care
1 Defining and Understanding Communication in Nursing
Communication as Essential in Nursing
Three Communication Axioms and How They Impact You
Nursing Student Well-Being
Chapter Summary
2 Science Versus Anecdote
Why Good Communication Leaves Us Wanting to Know More
A Communication Model for Nursing: COMFORT
Connecting Your Communication to the Spheres of Care
Chapter Summary
3 Relationship With the Patient
Defining Relationship in Nursing Care
Interpersonal Communication and Nursing
Communication Competence: What Is Included?
Chapter Summary
4 A Patients Story
Empathy, Compassion, and the Difference
Person-Centered Messages
The Essential Importance of a Patients Story
Chapter Summary
Resources
SECTION II Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
5 Ethical Communication
The Essentialness of Ethics in Nurse Communication
Ethical Humility in Nursing
Ethical Dilemmas and Dialectical Tensions
Moving From Moral Distress to Moral Resilience
Chapter Summary
Resources
6 Cultural Humility
A Culture-Centered Approach to Communication in Nursing
The Nurses Agency/The Patients Agency
Cultural Humility Versus Cultural Competency
Chapter Summary
Resources
7 Health Literacy
Understanding Health Literacy
Self-Discovery in Action: You and Health Literacy
Cultural Knowledge and Health Literacy Responses
Nurse Communication That Optimizes Health Literacy
Chapter Summary
Resources
8 Bearing Witness
A Sense of Humanity in Illness
Bearing Witness
Nonverbal Communication
Listening
Mindful Communication
Your Own Suffering
Chapter Summary
Resources
9 Communication and a Culture of Safety
How Does an Organization Create Its Own Culture?
A Culture of Safety
Groupthink, Teams, and Safety
How Groupthink Manifests
Chapter Summary
Resources
SECTION III Family and Nurse Communication
10 Communication and the Patients Family
Situating Family in Healthcare
Family Caregiver Communication Typology
Assessing Family Caregiver Communication
Collaborating With the Family Caregiver
Chapter Summary
Resources
11 Communicating With the Family Caregiver in Complex Disease
Family-Centered Care
Vulnerable Family Caregivers
Care Coordination
Long-Distance Caregiving
Collaborating With the Caregiver
Essentials for Collaborating and Connecting With the Family Caregiver
Chapter Summary
Resources
12 Communicating About Patient Prognosis
Diagnosis and Prognosis
Importance of Prognosis Communication: Three Illness Journeys
Two Approaches to Prognosis Communication: What You May Encounter
Prognosis Communication Toolkit
Chapter Summary
Resources
SECTION IV Professionalism and Collaboration
13 Communicating About Transitions in Care
Communicating Care Transitions: Openings
Boundaries and Openings
Communication Strategies for Openings
Chapter Summary
Resources
14 Communication and Goal-Concordant Care
Communicating Goals of Care
Communication Pathways for Nurses
Acknowledging Uncertainty in Illness
Trudys Goals of Care
Chapter Summary
Resources
15 Working on a Team
Team-Based Care: Its Complicated!
Civility as a Professional Responsibility
Becoming a Nurse Leader
Chapter Summary
Resources
16 Evolving Channels of Communication in Nursing
Nursing and Changing Technologies
Communication Accommodation Theory
Inequities and Patient Technology Use
Bridging the Divide
Chapter Summary
Resources
Index
Joy V. Goldsmith (Ph.D., University of Oklahoma, 2004) is a Professor of Health Communication at the University of Memphis. Her research engages nurse communication training, health literacy, and family caregiver communication. CommunicateComfort.com, a long-time initiative of Dr. Goldsmith, serves to house and disseminate a range of research interventions and curriculum for healthcare providers. COMFORT training has occurred through nationally funded training courses as well as in healthcare systems, in addition to provider training programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Goldsmith is the co-author of seven books, with the last four published with Oxford University Press. She is a thought leader in nurse communication training and has developed training content for the 2021 AACN Essentials. Along with Dr. Wittenberg (co-author), she has developed Goals of Care in Oncology training program delivered through the Comfort Communication Project to large cancer hospitals. Elaine Wittenberg (Ph.D., University of Oklahoma, 2004) worked with Dr. Goldsmith on the AACN workgroup for the Essentials and has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed articles on palliative care communication. She is co-author of six books pertaining to palliative care, family communication, and nursing, three of which have been awarded Book of the Year by the National Communication Association. Her research and teaching awards include the 2017 Applied Research Award from the International Communication Association, 2020 Lynn Payer Award for Outstanding Contribution to Theory, Practice, and Teaching of Health Communication from the Academy of communication in Healthcare, and the 2020 Bernard J. Brommel Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Family Communication from the National Communication Association. Chiahui (Kate) Chen, PhD, MS, RN, FNP-BC has six years of critical care nursing experience as a registered nurse and has been working as a nurse practitioner in medical and neurological intensive care unit (ICU) for the past ten years. She served as a frontline clinician caring for COVID-19 patients in the ICU and completed her doctoral dissertation on COMFORT training for ICU nurses. Dr. Chen has worked with Wittenberg, Goldsmith, and Prince-Paul for five years on funded projects related to the COMFORT model.
Maryjo Prince-Paul, PhD, MSN, RN, FPCN, is an experienced hospice and palliative care nurse. Throughout her 30-year career as a nurse and nurse educator, she has researched and promoted the importance of patient-centered communication and end-of-life care, serving as training faculty for End of-Life Nursing Education Consortium and COMFORT communication training programs. She regularly consults with law firms, non-profits, and agencies overseeing palliative care efforts, and currently serves on Ohio End of Life Options Health Care Coalition where she coordinates education initiatives for Ohio nurses. She regularly publishes articles and chapters addressing end-of-life dynamics, ethics, and communication between nurse and patient.
