Literature Review: Interpersonal Communication

2.0. Literature Review

2.1 Interpersonal communication

In 1943, Abraham Maslow developed a hierarchy of human needs which outlined the basis of human behavior in terms of priorities of survival. The five stage model can be divided into basic (or deficiency) needs and growth needs (self actualization). One must first satisfy lower level basic needs which includes oxygen, food, water and shelter before progressing on to meet higher level growth needs like safety, love/belonging and esteem.(McLeod,2014). This hierarchy can be applied to interpersonal communication. The concept of communication can be appropriately considered in the context of three levels of the hierarchy: safety, love and esteem. A loss can invoke anger, grief, or fear in response

It requires skills and simultaneously the sincere intention of the nurse to understand what concerns the patient. To understand the patient only is insufficient but the nurse must also convey messages in an understandable and acceptable way. (5). A few element of effective communication for the nurse include; effective communication through listening, giving patient feedbacks on their concerns and communicating to other staff members on patients concerns and conditions. It is also important to be honest in communication. The nurse should never tell patient they are going to do something for them if they do not intend to, and if they cannot follow through they should explain to the patient why. Secondly, it has been documented that as much as 80% of our communication is non-verbal. There is thus a need to pay attention to our body language, eye contact and tone of voice when addressing patients and

Such of these barriers are doctors’ burden of work, lack of time, poor environment, staff conflict and the likes. This suggests that if the doctor /nurse has so much work to do he/she would not spend a lot of time explaining into details. From peace online report on 24th June, 2014, the 2012 annual report on the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (2010-2013), it was reported that the country’s doctor and nurse population ratio is one doctor to 10,452 and one nurse to 1,251. This therefore leads to an increase burden on doctors and nurses and can hence act as a barrier to effective communication between doctor/nurse and the