Guidance and coaching in the role of a registered nurse (RN)

• Guidance and coaching in the role of a registered nurse (RN) is about teaching the patient about their disease and how to treat it by following the doctors’ orders and coaching them into a healthy lifestyle. According to Hamric, guidance is typically done by a nurse while coaching is something done by an advanced practice nurse (APN) because it is resolute, multipart, and collective process in which the APN works with the patient and their families to achieve attainable goals which are thought of together (2014). An APN will go back and forth between coaching and guidance depending on the assessment of the patient and how they best learn, coaching as an APN can also be called an intervention (Hamric et al., 2014). As APN, we take a specific set of classes to learn to how best communicate with the patient.

Interpersonal competence is the most important element of this competency. It not only occurs when the APN comprehends and assimilates the information obtained from the patient but when the patient recognizes the thorough message being passed on (Boyd & Carter, 2012).  The ability to create therapeutic partnerships is important as well and a part of interpersonal competence, this demands the APN to be present with the patient, to have empathy (Hamric et al., 2014). The APN must represent themselves openly and genuinely care for the patient and get to know them so the patient has a reason to follow the directions they’re given otherwise they prognosis is grim. In the same regards it is important to note cultural differences with communication, it is important that the APN is aware of her tone, volume, quality, and even vocabulary because what is appropriate for some cultures may not be for others and that could immediately close the communication doors (Boyd & Carter, 2012).

Teaching and coaching fits in the wellness vs sickness model because it is like previously stated patients respond better when their APN takes the time to get to know them, and that is where wellness medicine starts, when the APN gets to know the patient when disease hasn’t set in, (Chandma, 2013), while nurses do the general education when the patient is already ill.