Throughout our day we are consistently communicating with others through our words, our actions, and body language. Everything we do communicates something to the recipient. In nursing, developing trust is important to providing effective patient care. I need my patients to know that I am only here to help them. That is why I have to ask the hard questions and need them to be completely honest with me. The primary way we develop this trusting relationship is through how we communicate with our patients. In my Psychiatric/Mental Health course (NURS 411), I learned the concept of therapeutic communication. Therapeutic communication is the purposeful use of communication to build and maintain the nurse-patient relationships (Artifact 1: NURS 411 Exam 1 notes). By creating this nurse-patient relationship I am able to provide full holistic care to my patients. 

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As part of an assignment for my Psychiatric/Mental Health course (NURS 411), I watched a TED Talk and wrote a reflection (Artifact: TED talk reflection). The TED Talk was “The Tale of Mental Illness – from the inside” by Elyn Saks. In the TED Talk, Ms. Saks describes her experience with schizophrenia. Ms. Saks made an admirable point that modified my views on mental illness.  She described herself as being a person with schizophrenia, not a schizophrenic.  This statement reflects how there are more aspects to a person than their mental health diagnosis. Making the distinction between a patient and their diagnosis through purposeful communication can affect my patient’s perspective on their quality of life. This change in perspective can in turn increase the patient compliance to treatment and overall health outcome.

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     In the Summer of 2019, I had the opportunity to participate in a study abroad trip to Germany through my Independent Study: Public Health Issues Abroad (HPEB 399) course. This opportunity impacted me not only in my knowledge of research, but personally as well. One of the greatest lessons that I learned from this experience was the way we communicate about our past can have great effects on our future. Most are familiar with the history of Germany and the tragic events that took place during the Holocaust. In Germany, these events are not hidden away as if it never occurred. This history is displayed all across the country for everyone to see. The intention behind this is to promote reflection on past mistakes and to demonstrate ownership of them. When we communicate honestly about our past mistakes it facilitates trusting relationships.  (Artifact 3: Germany reflection video) 

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     As the Director of Membership for the Student Nursing Association (SNA) at the University of South Carolina Lancaster I communicated with various organizations to provide service opportunities for our members. The majority of communication was done through email. One particular organization that I collaborated with was HOPE of Lancaster (Artifact 4: email to HOPE). When communicating with these various organizations I was purposeful with my language in order to build a trusting relationship. These relationships provided opportunities for SNA members to improve the overall health of our community. 

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     Over the 4 years of my college journey, I have not only developed into a nurse but have experienced personal growth as well. I have learned the use of purposeful communication builds trusting relationships in nursing, but also in many other situations. In my nursing practice, trusting relationships allows for me to provide holistic care to my patients. After immersing myself into a new culture, I have gained a new perspective on how to communicate about my past failures. When I take ownership of my past mistakes, I build trusting relationships in my personal life. These established trusting relationships have cultivated me into a leader and impacted my future nursing practice.