"Words of the mind, words of the body" : Communicating the concerns and stresses of families and parents of children with disabilities

Abstract

Communication skills are essential to nursing and are applied in every nursing practice setting, either proactively or spontaneously. This is undertaken not only to provide nursing care but also to be able to make a professional presentation to an audience. These skills are particularly effective with regard to "early detection" and "prevention" of problems faced by patients concerning various aspects of the nursing environment. This paper focuses on communication skills used in the "early detection of problems," as well as discusses how an outpatient nurse may identify those problems faced by a mother who provides home care for her severely disabled child. This can be accomplished by referring to practice protocols developed previously by nurses. Thus, we will study those communication skills specific to nurses and the methods used in teaching such practical skills.