Role of Communication in the Nursing Process I: Assessment and Diagnosis

The nursing process relies on the structured and systematic application of both verbal and non-verbal communication to provide high-quality and efficient care.

Each method provides direction for effective therapeutic communication.

The assessment stage of the nursing process determines and analyzes a patient's health-related information.

Nurses use verbal communication, such as asking questions and active listening, to collect information about health history from patients and families.

Non-verbal communication skills, such as inspection and touch, allow nurses to perform physical examinations to gather more patient data.

For example, nurses may identify and document symptoms such as frequent urination and weakness from verbal communication with a diabetic patient and weight loss via non-verbal data collection.

This information can then be shared with a healthcare team. Such a nursing diagnosis could be reported as: "Imbalanced nutrition less than body requirement related to insulin deficiency, as evidenced by weight loss and weakness."

Overall, a nursing diagnosis is the systematic categorization of assessment data to identify existing health problems and select appropriate interventions to achieve optimum outcomes.