Читать книгу The Nursing Associate's Handbook of Clinical Skills - Группа авторов - Страница 152

The nursing associates has to be physically and mentally present in all interactions. This requires skill and attention to self and others as well as the environment.

The nursing associate should strive for conditions that support and promote privacy in nurse–patient encounters and a working environment that acknowledges the important contribution of the nursing associate’s focus on the patient. This can be achieved, for example, by having guidelines or recommendations for disturbance during the nurse–patient encounter and having interior design that promotes and enables the nursing associates to place themselves face to face with the patient (Leary et al. 2014).

Gathering information about the patient’s needs occurs by visual cues, such as by observing, for example, during an assessment on admission to the ward, the nursing associate might note how the patient is engaging in conversation: are they focused or do they have expression of concern or worry? Another contribution comes from listening to the words that are spoken, pauses and the strength of the patient’s voice. Physical touch provides information through the patient’s reactions and serves to communicate information about their condition (Koutsopoulou et al. 2010). Getting to know the patient is a continuous process that does not stop, even when verbal communication is impossible due to the nature of a procedure (Kitson et al. 2013).