To B or not to B? Interview by Angela Foster

The barriers to effective communication also include cultural barriers, semantic barriers, gender barriers, and time constraints.
Cultural barriers:
Differences in values, beliefs, religion, knowledge, and tradition can significantly impact communication. Awareness of nonverbal cues is critical, especially when conversing with a patient from a different culture. What appears appropriate in one culture may be inappropriate in another.
Semantic barriers:
As a result of their tendency to use...

Altercasting is a strategic communication technique in which an individual imposes a specific identity or social role onto another person to influence their behavior and shape the interaction. By presuming a role—such as “responsible leader” or “patient person”—altercasting encourages the target to conform to that identity, often aligning their behavior with the expectations associated with the role. The power of this tactic lies in its subtlety; once a role is assigned, it becomes socially...

Charting by Exception, or CBE, is a method of documentation used in healthcare, particularly in nursing, that focuses on documenting only significant or abnormal findings rather than recording every detail. This approach aims to streamline the documentation process, improve efficiency, and ensure that healthcare providers can quickly identify deviations from normalcy in patient assessments.
In CBE, healthcare professionals establish predefined standards of practice that define what constitutes...

A communication barrier is any distortion or interruption during a conversation, resulting in miscommunication of the message. A good communicator should know these barriers and continuously check for the listener's understanding by obtaining feedback.
Communication barriers include the following:
Physiological barriers: They are limitations caused by a person's health condition or disability, such as hearing loss, poor eyesight, illness, or unconsciousness. An example to overcome this barrier...

Communication is a lifelong learning process. Through therapeutic communication, nurses can collect relevant assessment data, provide education and counseling, and interact during nursing interventions. Sending and receiving messages occur through verbal and nonverbal communication techniques and can happen separately or simultaneously.
Verbal communication depends on language or a prescribed way of using words so that people can share information effectively. The critical aspects of verbal...

SBAR is an effective communication tool used by healthcare professionals to communicate patient information accurately. SBAR stands for Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation. For a better understanding, an example is given below.
SBAR Report from a Nurse to a Health Care Provider
S: "Hello, Dr. Smith. This is Jane, RN, from the Med Surg unit. I am calling to tell you about Ms. White in Room 210, who is experiencing increased pain and redness at her incision site. Her recent...