The research article selected for this review can be found in the Google Scholar database. It was published in Applied Nursing Research, which is a US-based scholarly journal publishing peer-reviewed research for application in the nursing practice. The paper is related to patient-centered care, focusing on the communication preferences of patients with chronic pain and suggesting nursing communication strategies to improve patient-centered care in the clinical setting.
In this research article, the author tackled the issue of communicating pain to healthcare providers. Becker (2020) undertook this study because of the need to help nurses as the front-line staff to assess pain accurately through patient-centered communication. This need arises because patients with chronic pain may have difficulty describing their pain; moreover, they frequently have other concomitant problems, such as depression or sleep disturbances, which are often dismissed by healthcare providers (Becker, 2020). While there are many studies investigating patient-provider communication, the literature on the communication preferences of chronic pain patients is scarce, which encouraged the author to research this question.
The research method used was a survey distributed across social media websites. It contained 26 multiple-choice questions grouped into several categories, such as the patient’s ability to describe pain adequately, the perceived benefit of talking about pain, and perceived support and interest from others. For the study, 192 participants were recruited from chronic pain-related groups on Facebook and Reddit, and 157 of them completed the survey (Becker, 2020). The survey included informed consent and was designed so as to exclude people without chronic pain.
The findings of the study brought some valuable insights into patients’ communication experiences and preferences. Becker (2020) found that talking about pain often did not yield a feeling of support. It means that, although patients can adequately describe their pain, they frequently feel that healthcare providers neither understand their pain nor provide the necessary emotional support. Hence, Becker (2020) concluded that language was not a barrier to effective communication, but a lack of empathy was. Based on the findings, Becker (2020) recommended that nurses and physicians ask patients about the impact of chronic pain on their lives instead of focusing only on feelings.
This way, healthcare providers will be able to get a more holistic view of the patient’s state and identify any possible comorbidities, such as depression. Becker (2020) suggested that healthcare providers should ask informal, open-ended questions to encourage patients to share information and establish a strong therapeutic alliance. By doing so, they can bridge the gap between themselves and patients and let patients take an active role in their treatment, thus improving patient-centered care and increasing patient satisfaction.
The research findings are important to nursing because they shed light on patients’ communication needs and provide guidance about how nurses should communicate with chronic pain patients. The results showed that patients needed to feel listened to and supported, but they often did not get this in the clinical setting. Therefore, I can incorporate these findings into my nursing practice by showing more empathy to patients and tending to their emotional needs in addition to physical ones. I can practice active listening skills by asking open-ended questions and paying attention to the impact of the condition on the patient’s life. This way, I will be able to receive more information about the patient’s condition and tailor an intervention plan to the patient’s circumstances.
Reference
Becker, K. L. (2020). Tell me your dreams and goals: Structuring communication exchanges to improve patient-centered care with chronic pain patients. Applied Nursing Research, 53, 151248. Web.