The word communication comes from the Latin verb communicare,” to make common, share, participate, or impart.” Communication establishes a sense of commonness with another and permits the sharing of information, signals, or messages in the form of ideas and feelings. A series of messages exchanged between persons forms an interchange or communication.
Communication is a continuous dynamic process by which one mind may affect another through written or oral language, gestures, facial expressions, music, painting, sculpture, drama, dance, or other signs.
Communication pattern refers to the relatively consistent network of message sent and received in short or long-term exchanges, the habitual way of interacting with others. Part of this pattern is the social amenities pattern, the interaction that uses socially prescribed rules, ceremonies, or customs according to the situation and usually results in superficial communication.
The social pattern includes small talk, social chitchat that encompasses mundane topics and is used to kill time, to test the reactions of others, to avoid involvement, or to serve as a bridge to significant conversation. The information pattern differs in that it involves a request for or giving of information or orders but it is not likely to establish intimate understandings because there is little disclosure of self.
Neither the social nor the informational pattern is adequate by itself in the nursing process. The communication pattern in the nurse-patient-family relationship should be a dialogue, involving purposeful, reciprocal, close expression between the participants and focusing on the here-and-now problems of the one seeking help rather than on the helper. Yet there should be an openness which contributes to the growth of all participants involved.
Neither the social nor the informational pattern is adequate by itself in the nursing process. The communication pattern in the nurse-patient-family relationship should be a dialogue, involving purposeful, reciprocal, close expression between the participants and focusing on the here-and-now problems of the one seeking help rather than on the helper. Yet there should be an openness which contributes to the growth of all participants involved.
References :
Guralnik, David, ed., Webster`s New World Dictionary (2nd College ed.). New York: The World Publishing Company, 1972.
Travelbee, Joyce, Intervention in Psychiatric Nursing. Philadelphia : F. A. Davis Company, 1969.
Murray, RB and Zentner JP., Nursing Concepts for Health Promotion, Second Edtion, Prentice-Hall, Inc, Englewood Cliffs, N.J, 1979.
