Interpersonal competence and communication in the delivery of nursing care

Despite the importance generally attributed to communication in nursing, little systematic attention has been directed toward exploring the interface between communication and the delivery of nursing care. The primary factors that have tended to impede research have been the inability of emerging models of nursing to conceptualize communication from an adequate perspective and level and the lack of theoretic exemplars for guiding specific lines of investigation. This article suggests that one potential exemplar for guiding nursing communication research lies in the area of interpersonal competence. It is suggested that research can be profitably aimed at understanding how the social cognitive and communicative abilities of nurses interrelate with the sociocultural context in health care to influence interpersonal competence.