Interpersonal and Cross Cultural Communication for Advance Practice Registered Nurse Leaders

摘要

Advance practice registered nurse (APRN) leaders require advanced level communication skills in order to provide safe and effective care. Knowledge and skills in interpersonal and cross cultural communication are important for the APRN when providing care to patients and when working in interprofessional teams. This article will discuss the application of professional standards of culturally competent care and communication in the APRN provider-patient interaction and the APRN leadership role at the organizational level. Cross cultural communication and leadership knowledge and skills are essential for APRN leaders in meeting the cultural and language needs of patients and delivery of culturally appropriate and competent care. Introduction Communication is a cultural phenomenon that affects nursing care among cultural groups.1 Since nurses are the largest group in the United States (US) health care workforce, nurses are best positioned to champion holistic care that recognizes an individual’s preferences, values and needs, and respects the patient or designee as a full partner in providing compassionate and culturally appropriate, safe and effective care.2 The Institute of Medicine provided a blueprint for the future of nursing across roles, settings and educational levels, and addressed how the work environment of nurses can be transformed to keep patients safe.2,3 The advance practice registered nurse (APRN) is one of many nursing roles.Advanced level communication skills including effective communication between patients, nurses, and other clinical leaders are essential to ensuring safe and reliable care.2, 3 Communication is also a vital component of culturally competent care provided by APRN health care providers and leaders. The APRN has to address individual and cultural differences when communicating with patients, and the APRN leader should also possess advanced level interpersonal and cross cultural communication skills in order to communicate effectively and provide culturally appropriate, safe, effective, and quality care to patients. More importantly, the APRN has to be willing to develop a therapeutic relationship with someone that is culturally different and also recognize that differences in communication style may affect the therapeutic relationship. In addition to establishing a therapeutic relationship with someone that is culturally different, the APRN is expected to negotiate patient-centered, culturally appropriate, and evidence-based goals and treatment plans with the patient.4 The APRN has to understand how culture impacts communication in the nurse-patient relationship and consider the patient’s cultural and language needs when communicating with the patient and developing a plan of care. This article will discuss application of professional standards of culturally competent care and communication in the APRN provider-patient interaction and the APRN leadership role at the organizational level. Interpersonal Communication Skills Communication is a process of exchanging information between a source and recipient, has to be mutually understandable, and requires language skills. Language is used as a tool to exchange and understand information. The use (linguistics), structure (syntactic), and meaning (semantics) of language are important in the communication process. The overall purpose of semantics is alleviating misunderstanding when communicating. Furthermore, common meaning, understanding or clarity in communication is necessary for effective communication. Effective communication occurs when APRN health care providers understand and integrate the information obtained from patients, and when patients understand accurate, timely, complete, and clear messages from APRNs so that they can participate responsibly in their care. The APRN health care provider must also communicate effectively with patients’ families and other health care professionals to promote mutual respect and shared decision making.5Ef