Nursing Learning Outcomes

Introduction
In order to deliver quality care to patients, care providers must be cognizant of the various strategies and methods that can be used to achieve care objectives. Researching, developing, and utilizing effective communication tools and strategies is one way that nurses can better increase the quality of care they provide patients. This paper will 1) discuss the necessity of applying research findings to implement effective health communication strategies; 2) it will describe patient-centered communication practices that demonstrate cultural competency; 3) it will analyze the consequences and results of low health literacy and express how effective communication can improve health outcomes; and 4) it will explain the need for relevant, accurate, accessible and understandable health information communicated to and from intended audiences to advance the health of the community.
Applying Research Findings to Implement Effective Health Communication
Applying research findings to implement effective health communication strategies is part of what it means to engage in evidence-based practice. As Kreps (2012) points out, many care providers’ communication methods are guided more by “good intentions, precedent, and expedience than by strong evidence” (p. 5). The problem with this is, of course, that good intentions are no replacement for solid, evidence-based research. The achieved the most desirable health communication objectives, care providers should base their communication methods on the evidence that researchers show works best. For example, nurses are instrumental in helping to guide the decision making processes of patients—but if they are not communicating effectively with patients, the outcomes are likely to be less than satisfactory. Nurses have been found to lack the necessary cultural competency needed to communicate with diverse populations in many cases (Tsoh et al., 2016), which causes them to fail in teaching health literacy or in educating patients in self-care. Effective health communication strategies exist to help nurses overcome obstacles of this nature, but if care providers are not engaging with the research and learning these strategies, they are not going to be providing the type of quality care that patients deserve.
To know what research is current or offers the best evidence-based practice approaches for enhancing communication with patients, nurses must engage in continuous education. Without continuous education as a staple of their nursing careers, nurses cannot develop themselves both personally and professionally to meet the ever evolving challenges of the nursing profession. For instance, as the world becomes more and more globalized, the diversity of the patient population alters and changes. The efficient and effective nurse will have multiple comprehensive communication strategies to draw upon to address these challenges—but only if the nurse engages in continuous education and stays abreast of what researchers are doing in the field to help them advance their practice. Some such communication strategies that nurses will want to focus on include patient-centered communication practices that demonstrate cultural competency, which this paper will now discuss.
Patient-Centered Communication Practices That Demonstrate Cultural Competency
As Campinha-Bacota (2011) notes, the most important aspect of patient-centered communication and the demonstration of cultural competence is the need to see the patient as wholly unique. Patients are like snowflakes in that no two are the same—and for that reason nurses should not try to treat them all alike. Every patient is going to come from a different background and have his or her own take on what health means to them. The nurse who is culturally competent will be able to make adjustments to the care and communication approach based on the perceived culture and values of the patient. By interacting with the patient in an initial introduction, the nurse who has researched, learned and developed cultural competence, will know what signs to look for, what questions to ask, and how to present oneself so as not to give offense. Being sensitive of the patient’s perspective, experiences, beliefs, attitudes and expectations about health, life, body and mind is what can help the nurse to provide quality care and communicate in the most effective manner (Campinha-Bacota, 2011). A culturally-competent nurse can better assist the patient in the decision-making process than a nurse who has developed zero cultural competence. The latter will have no effective strategy to use when the time comes to educate a patient of different ethnicity or cultural background or to assist such a patient in making effective health choices.
The key to using patient-centered care strategies that demonstrate cultural competence is to be mindful of individual biases, make efforts to address those biases, and engage in cultural tailoring so that diverse patients feel comfortable with their care providers. Patient-centered communication practices that are informed by cultural competence could include augmenting communication strategies to fit the needs of the individual patient, such as providing literature materials in a language that is easier for the patient to understand (Saha, Beach & Cooper, 2008). For instance, if the patient is Hispanic, providing literature materials in Spanish would facilitate communication and demonstrate cultural competence. Or learning Spanish to enhance one’s communication skills would be another example. Tailoring one’s explanation of a health issue to suit the perspective of the patient’s religious beliefs would be another example. For instance, understanding the cultural expectations of care of Muslims, various Christian denominations, Hindus, Jews, or other religious groups would be a way to implement patient-centered care strategies that demonstrate cultural competence (Saha et al., 2008). The goal in any case is to boost the patient’s health literacy so that the patient can be wholly informed and capable of making the best health choices for him or herself.
Consequences and Results of Low Health Literacy
The consequences and results of low health literacy is that patients are unable to understand the risks associated with their health-related issue (Batterham, Hawkins, Collins, Buchbinder & Osborne, 2016). The risk factors that they could avoid or the type of lifestyle changes they could make to prevent health problems in the future are unknown to them because they have a low level of health literacy. Such patients are the ones who could best be treated by preventive care—but preventative care requires that the nurse be able to communicate effectively to the patient in a way that the patient understands. If a language, cultural or educational gap exists between the nurse and the patient, it makes it more difficult for the nurse to increase the patient’s health literacy, which is needed for taking the steps to address health issues in a preventative manner or to enable the patient to implement self-care practices.
Effective communication can improve health outcomes by helping the patient to better understood the stakes of his or her health care, what the risks are, what to look out for in terms of one’s own health signals, what to avoid (such as in a diet if a patient is in danger of developing diabetes, obesity or heart issues), what to do (such as exercise in the same case), and so on. Effective communication is about informing the patient and measuring the patient’s understanding of the proper steps to improve one’s health or one’s quality of life (Batterham et al., 2016). By communicating on a wavelength that the patient picks up, the nurse can get the information to the patient that the patient will need to make the appropriate health decisions, take the necessary steps to engage in self-care if possible, and more effectively monitor and maintain one’s own health. Increasing patient’s health literacy depends upon the nurse’s ability to communicate effectively and efficiently.
The Need for Relevant, Accurate, Accessible and Understandable Health Information
Nurses must understand the need for relevant, accurate, accessible and understandable health information communicated to and from intended audiences to advance the health of the community. It is through this type of communication that community health is enhanced and improved. As Kite, Foley, Grunseit and Freeman (2016) show, one effective way to communicate relevant, accurate, accessible and understandable health information to the public is through social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. These forms of communication are the most popular of today’s generation and so using them can establish a two-way flow of communication that allows care providers to disseminate information to an entire community and to receive information back as the community can post, share, and message the care providers using the platform.
Conclusion
Keeping in mind the various methods of communication in today’s world is a necessary function of today’s nurses. They must be culturally competent. They must use research and evidence-based practices to enhance their communication methods. And they must help to promote health literacy of individuals and communities by using effective communication strategies.


References
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