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Interpersonal Skills in a Nursing Essay – A Detailed Guide

Published by at November 24th, 2022 , Revised On September 4, 2025

The importance of interpersonal skills in the nursing profession cannot be understated. Nurses are required to have the ability to communicate and interact well with patients, doctors, families, and other people to provide the most effective care and treatment.

But how do you demonstrate your interpersonal skills in a nursing essay? What is the significance of interpersonal skills in a nursing essay? Do I need to present my interpersonal skills in a nursing essay? This guide will answer all your looming questions.

 

Why are interpersonal skills in a nursing essay important?

Interpersonal skills in a nursing essay demonstrate your ability to deal with different situations at the workplace when interacting with your patients and other people. It would be best if you referred to your interpersonal skills in the traditional reflective essay.

 

8 Key Interpersonal Skills for Your Nursing Essay

Here are the eight most critical interpersonal skills that nursing students can showcase in their essays for the best results: 

 

1. Communication

Communication is an essential skill among the 6Cs of nursing essay. As a nurse, it is vitally important for you to communicate well to deal with situations where information needs to be exchanged or passed on promptly. 

 

2. Teamwork

Teamwork makes the team work. As a nursing student, you must shed light on your teamwork expertise to demonstrate your ability to handle jobs that require the entire nursing unit to work together. 

 

3. Upbeat Attitude

If you are unhappy at work, your patients will likely notice it. Many of the patients are already depressed about their situations. Your upbeat attitude can go a long way towards improving their morale. 

 

4. Negotiation

Negotiation in nursing is a two-stage process that requires two conditions: a degree of disagreement from one party or both parties and an agreement to exchange services, goods, information or time for money. Professional nurses learn to hone their negotiation skills to maximise their value in everyday dealings.  

 

5. Listening

A good nurse is a good listener. When writing a reflective essay, you must aim to talk about your listening skills. As a successful nurse, you must demonstrate the ability to pay attention to what your patients say. That is critical for successful patient-centred care, particularly for acquiring valuable medical data. 

 

6. Leadership

Leadership and decision-making are the two essential qualities of a nurse. Every nurse who wants to excel in her career must be a good leader and decision-maker. A good nurse leader is compassionate, empathetic, and also possesses emotional intelligence skills.

 

7. Empathy

Write about your compassion, empathetic nature, and ability to understand and assist others. A nurse needs to understand what their patients are going through to correctly identify their needs, especially if they have no friends or family around. 

 

8. Conflict management

When managing conflicts at the workplace, as a nurse, you will need to be able to recognise the early signs of a dispute. Make sure you highlight your capabilities to be proactive, actively listen, remain calm, identify the issue, and propose an effective solution.

 

What are the most common interpersonal skills for a nursing essay?

The most common interpersonal skills you could base your essay on include but are not limited to, communication, positive attitude, listening, leadership, compassion, conflict resolution, and teamwork.

 

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How to Develop Strong Interpersonal Skills?

Here’s how you can hone strong interpersonal skills for your nursing essay: 

 

  • Practice active listening

Active listening is the foundation of effective communication in nursing. Nurses should listen to their patients at all times and avoid interrupting them, as interruptions can make patients feel unheard or dismissed. Active listening isn’t just all about verbal cues but also about facial expressions and body language.

 

  • Engage in role-playing exercises

Role-playing exercises mean getting involved with challenging patient interactions, such as delivering bad news, calming an agitated patient, or explaining complex medical procedures. They will lead to the acquisition of qualities like empathy, clarity, and professionalism. 

 

  • Seek mentorship

Another tip to develop interpersonal skills is observing how seasoned nurses or medical professionals handle difficult conversations, such as conflict resolution, emotional support, and medical consultation. Also, seek help from seniors to learn more. 

 

  • Take continuing education courses

A nurse should stay updated on the new technologies and how they can impact patients and their well-being. You should get workshops on emotional intelligence, conflict resolution training, and cultural competence courses. 

 

  • Reflect on personal interactions

Keep a journal of how you interacted with each patient, what was challenging, and how you handled medical crises. Writing down your experiences and emotional thoughts will significantly help you practice mindfulness and identify recurring issues.

 

When Do You Need Interpersonal Skills in Writing?

You must demonstrate your interpersonal skills every time you write a reflective nursing essay. This is where you will look back on, or reflect upon, your experiences and how they caused personal change or improvement. It allows you to describe experiences where you had to rely on your interpersonal skills with individuals or organisations.

 

How to Showcase Interpersonal Skills in a Nursing Essay?

Here are the essential steps you can take to showcase your interpersonal skills in your nursing essay: 

 

Step 1: Define interpersonal skills clearly

The first step is defining what interpersonal skills are in ensuring. Clearly elaborate on how they differ from technical skills and why they are important for patient care, teamwork, and professional growth. 

Also, explain how interpersonal skills focus on trust and foster positive relationships with patients and colleagues. 

 

Step 2: Link interpersonal skills to nursing competencies

When writing a nursing essay, connect interpersonal skills to core nursing competencies, such as patient-centred care, team collaboration, conflict resolution, and cultural competence. Here is an example:

“The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) emphasises that communication and relationship-building are the key competencies. A nurse must be equipped with strong interpersonal skills so that they can reduce patient anxiety, enhance teamwork, and improve overall treatment”.

 

Step 3: Use personal experiences or case studies

Provide your personal experiences or case studies in your nursing essay where you applied interpersonal skills to tackle different issues.

 

Example 1: Active listening

“During my placement in a geriatric ward, I cared for an elderly patient who was reluctant to take medication. Instead of insisting, I sat with her, listened to her concerns about side effects, and explained the benefits in simple terms. This approach eased her anxiety, and she eventually complied with treatment”.

 

Example 2: Conflict resolution

“A family member became upset when their loved one’s test results were delayed. Instead of reacting defensively, I acknowledged their frustration, provided a clear explanation, and assured them I would follow up. This de-escalated the situation and restored trust”.

 

Step 4: Incorporate evidence-based research

In your nursing essay, support your arguments with nursing theories, studies, or guidelines to strengthen academic integrity and credibility.

For example, according to Peplau’s Interpersonal Relations Theory (1952), effective nurse-patient interactions are foundational to healing. Studies by Kourkouta & Papathanasiou (2014) further confirm that empathetic communication improves patient satisfaction and recovery rates.

 

Step 5: Reflect on challenges and improvements

Provide details about the challenges you faced during your nursing practice and how you worked to overcome them and improve further. Here’s an example:

“Initially, I struggled a lot in maintaining composure when patients were verbally aggressive. Through mentorship and conflict resolution training, I learnt techniques to stay calm, validate emotions, and redirect conversations constructively”.

 

Step 6: Discuss the impact of interpersonal skills

Explain, in your nursing essay, how your interpersonal skills helped in better patient care outcomes, workplace harmony, and career success.

“With interpersonal skills, I was able to communicate clearly with patients and prevent medical errors, while my empathy helped build trust with them. In multidisciplinary teams, strong interpersonal skills ensure smooth collaboration, improving efficiency”.

 

Step 7: Structure your essay effectively

Your nursing essay must be well-structured. It should properly discuss interpersonal skills and their implications. Like other essay types, a nursing essay also follows a structure with an introduction, main body, and conclusion.

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Frequently Asked Questions

To highlight your interpersonal skills, define interpersonal skills clearly and their implications, link them to nursing competencies, use personal experiences or case studies, incorporate evidence-based research, and reflect on challenges and improvements.

The skills required in a nursing essay are good communication, teamwork expertise, upbeat attitude, negotiation, listening, leadership, empathy, and conflict management.

You can follow the given tips to improve your interpersonal skills:

  1. Practice active listening
  2. Engage in role-playing exercises
  3. Seek mentorship
  4. Take continuing education courses
  5. Reflect on personal interactions

Patients feel more comfortable and trust nurses who exhibit strong interpersonal skills. Interpersonal skills help nurses build rapport with patients, leading to better communication and improved patient outcomes.

Common challenges that nurses face are language barriers, emotional burnout, time constraints, and difficult patients or families.

About Alvin

Avatar for AlvinNicolas has a master's degree in literature and a PhD degree in statistics. He is a content manager at Essays.uk. He loves to write, cook and run. Nicolas is passionate about helping students at all levels.

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