Therapeutic Interaction in Nursing

By Christine Williams with Carol Davis. Thorofare, NJ: SLACK Incorporated, 2004. $31.95. ISBN: 1-55642-579-1. 110 pages.

Who doesn't need some pointers or renewal on good communication? Therapeutic Interaction in Nursing is a short but effective text on communication written specifically for nursing. The first chapter on "Understanding the Self" should be a prerequisite for all those entering the challenging field of nursing along with current practioners who need to be reinvigorated. In the second chapter, "Using the Self to Promote Health," the need for self-awareness is summarized in a quote from Hildegard Peplau, "Nursing is a human relationship between an individual who is sick or in need of health services and a nurse especially educated to recognize and to respond to the need for help." Communication is a basis tenet of the healthcare profession.

The exercises at the end of each chapter provide a chance to practice and put it all together. The content builds from discussion of the self in first 2 chapters to basic communication strategies, and then specific patient populations. Some of the patient-specific populations specified include clients with psychiatric illness, the cognitively impaired, and the critically ill, mechanically ventilated clients. The authors have done an effective job in making it complete and also engaging to read.

I would recommend this text as a good addition for the advanced practice nurse who may not only teach others the skill set needed to communicate therapeutically in difficult situations but also as an adjunct reference for renewal on both good self and patient communication strategies.