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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

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Saucedo-Isidoro G. La comunicación enfermera-paciente: una estrategia para la humanización del cuidado. Rev Enferm Inst Mex Seguro Soc. 2016;24(2):85-6

Nurse-patient communication: A strategy in humanizing care

Gloria Saucedo-Isidoro¹

¹División de Programas de Enfermería, Dirección de Prestaciones Médicas, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Distrito Federal, México

Correspondence: Gloria Saucedo-Isidoro

Email: gloria.saucedo@imss.gob.mx

With more than three decades of professional experience in the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, I want to share some thoughts on Virginia Henderson’s conceptual model and her definition of nursing, which in essence is "help healthy or sick people to carry out activities that contribute to their health or recovery (or to a peaceful death), which they could do unaided if they had enough strength, will, or knowledge.” For Virginia Henderson, the healthy or sick individual is a complete whole with fourteen fundamental needs, and the role of the nurse is to help them regain their independence as quickly as possible.¹

However, to provide this service to society, it is fundamentally necessary to have the professional efforts of nurses, the intellectual and affective outcomes that reflect an understanding of the reasons and primordial relations between human beings and the environment. In addition to perpetuating the belief system of the profession, as a guide for obtaining ethical goals in nursing education, practice, and research, the ultimate goal is to improve health through access to nursing care for all human beings.

This is the core of nursing praxis, and it is through this perspective that I want to channel the reflections arising from my observation and experiences as a service provider and user. This while considering that in the current epidemiological context, the demand for care is greater than the existing infrastructure and human resources, which represents an important factor in the provision of timely care to people.

Under these conditions, the way to provide nursing care is through the fulfillment of activities depending on medical indications, and sometimes disregarding the primary objective, which is to provide care through close nurse-patient and family relationship.

In this relationship, communication is one of the key factors in providing quality care. Sometimes this crucial communication process can be relegated to the background by factors of time, workload, professionals’ lack of training in these aspects, or psychological dependence on the cell phone. This deterioration of communication can adversely affect the quality of care, as reported in a study of interruptions and distractions in the health area, in which it was found that the main distraction was to attend to some type of electronic device; 51% of time spent on this action degenerated into another 18% of interruptions. Particularly if disruptions occur at moments of drug administration, especially by cell phone use, the risk of error increases up to 3.23%.²

Under the premise that patients exposed to less noise improve more quickly, it is known that noise control measures in hospitals reduce stress in patients and health workers; they also facilitate communication and the relationship between staff and patients. Among the measures recommended are using soft soles in the footwear of personnel; wheels for beds and carts with low noise impact; a campaign for a culture of silence for workers, patients, and families; reducing the noise emissions of electronic medical and entertainment devices; controlling the use of landline and mobile telephone use by both users and staff (use of vibration mode); controlling the volume of conversations in corridors and staff common spaces and for patients with mobility and visitors; and the use of posters and leaflets with warnings and recommendations.  

The presence of family is certainly a strength in the person’s physical and emotional recovery; therefore, they are a great opportunity to strengthen the continuity of care at home, at any time through training and empowering the family or primary caregiver in hygiene procedures, food, elimination, mobilization, and with safety information for administration of oral medications and wound healing.

The quality of the encounter between the nurse and the patient makes the difference between a humanized practice and an instrumental practice; for this, an interpersonal relationship, beyond performing procedures and techniques, is a great opportunity for growth and maturation for the patient and the nurse themselves. The theory of interpersonal relations can serve as a pillar to support the actions of the nurse and give meaning to their relationship with the patient. Ultimately for the purpose of humanized care, clear and fluid communication is essential in the therapeutic and interpersonal process that enables health.³

References

1. Hernández-Vergel LL, Rodríguez-Brito ME, Jiménez-Pérez M, Rangel-Marín F. Imagen social de la enfermería. Rev Cubana Enfermería. 2003;19(1):250-69. [Cited 2014 May 1]. Available from http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0864-03192003000100006&lng=es
2. Prieto-Miranda SE, Gutiérrez-Ochoa F, Jiménez-Bernardino CA, Méndez-Cervantes D. El teléfono celular como distractor de la atención médica en un servicio de urgencias. Med Int Mex. 2013;29(1):39-47.
3. Arredondo-González CP, Siles-González J. Tecnología y humanización de los cuidados: Una mirada desde la teoría de las relaciones interpersonales. Index Enferm. 2009;18(1):32-6. [Cited 2016 Mar 15]. Available from http://scielo.isciii.es/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1132-12962009000100007&lng=es

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