Communication and Persuasion in Nurse Anesthesia

As a few others have mentioned, nursing is all about communication. Communication is key for success in any sort of medical field. There needs to be clear, direct communication between nurses, and to patients, parents, doctors, residents, interns, and whoever is involved with the patient. Without this clear correspondence, there can be dangerous, and often times fatal mistakes.

I am looking into going more specifically into Nurse Anesthesia. A certified registered nurse anesthetist cares for a patient before, during, and after a medical procedure or surgery by performing a patient assessment, preparing the patient for anesthesia, administering and maintaining the anesthesia to ensure proper sedation and pain management, and oversees recovery.Similar to an RN, in this profession I will need to keep communicating as a top priority.

Verbal communication is obviously very important as I said before with passing off patients to doctors and surgeons to make sure that all the information about the patient and procedures are clear. Talking with patients and their families is a big part of a medical profession. People want to know the risks, but at the same time they want to hear that everything will be alright.

Non-verbal communication is equally as important, especially when your job includes knocking people out for hours at a time and administering pretty intense drugs to people. Reading body language and knowing what to look for to prevent injury is key.

Persuasion plays a big part in both verbal and non-verbal communication. Building up ethos while communicating to patients and families will help them feel confident in the care provided. Honesty, clarity, and consistency in communication will help with communication with doctors and surgeons to make sure they can trust the work I have done. I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure you don't want someone waking up halfway through surgery.