Patient communication and stress among nurses working in psychiatric and neurological units

Communication is inherent in the transfer of information between people. The basic components include: receiver, sender, channel and noise. There are many factors that interfere with and impede the communication process is stress. It is a psychological, emotional and physical overload. It is a natural part of our everyday life. It contributes to numerous somatic diseases. The aim of this study was to find out how nurses in the neurology and psychiatry department communicate and how they experience stress resulting from their professional work. A diagnostic survey method was used in this study. A research tool of our own authorship was used. A questionnaire survey on the way and difficulties of nurses' and nurse practitioners' communication with patients in a neurology and psychiatry unit and the Short Scale for Measuring Stress at Work (Stanton et al. 2001; adapted by Dudek and Hauk, 2010). Nurses were most likely to engage in conversation with the patient when providing basic needs in the neurology unit and when administering medication in the psychiatry unit. The nursing team used active listening as a communication technique. Respondents from both wards with tertiary education chose reflecting feelings as a technique to communicate with the patient. In both the neurology and psychiatry wards, stress was sometimes experienced when talking to patients. The intensity of stress at work, and the calmness in the nurses of the neurology ward depended on the verbal form of communicating information to the patient. Respondents in the neurology and psychiatry department rated the intensity of stress at work as high. They also declared experiencing stress during sudden deterioration of the patient's condition and excessive expectations of patients and their families.