Top Nurse Communication Skills and Strategies

In healthcare facilities, nurses can be found nearly everywhere—at patient screenings, in nursing stations, and, most importantly, with the patient in the exam room or at the bedside. Nurses are on the front lines of patient care, making nurse communication skills essential to a positive patient experience.

On a pragmatic level, nurse-patient communication is important because it is one of the primary domains on which CAHPS surveys are scored. Patients answer questions about whether the nurse treated them with courtesy and respect, listened to them carefully, and explained concepts clearly.

High CAHPS scores are important for an organization’s reputation and some reimbursement models. However, meeting these goals isn’t always easy, especially as new technologies infiltrate the nurse-patient relationship. Although health technology provides many advantages to patient care, it can also detract from nurse-patient relationships. Meanwhile, workforce issues and labor shortages make it hard for nurses to spend enough time to forge deep relationships with their patients. That can contribute to both lower patient satisfaction as well as nurse burnout.

But using targeted communication strategies, nurses may overcome these barriers.