Communication and interpersonal interaction

* Staff training * Assessment of needs * Promoting rights * Confidentiality * Defusing aggression * Appropriate verbal/ non- verbal communication * Building relationships * Appropriate environment * Attitude and confidence

Defusing aggression – a way to defuse aggression is by using assertion. Assertion is when a person can control their emotions that make them run away or fight back. To be assertive you would need to learn how to relax and stay calm in a tough situation. By building a relationship with a patient, a nurse could calm down a patient since she knows a lot about the patient therefore, he/she will know how to calm down the patient. A nurse would use non- verbal communication to calm down a patient also she would use verbal communication to speak with the patient and ask him/her what’s wrong.

Assessment of needs – This will allow the nurses and the doctors to know what is best for the patient and how to deliver the best quality care. This strategy will make sure that the patient receives all the help that he needs and that the nurses know how to deliver the help. For example, if a patient cannot speak for some reason, the nurse could check the patients needs assessment and make sure that he is getting everything that he needs. For example, medicine.

Confidentiality – This strategy is will allow the patient to feel more comfortable knowing that the nurses or the doctors won’t tell anyone about what the patient said. This will lead to the patient feeling more relaxed and able to talk about their issues. Another strategy that is similar to this one is promoting rights. This will help in a health and

social care setting because patients will feel more relaxed to answer specific questions because they know that they have promoting rights. This will also make the patient open up more to the nurse or the doctor which leads to better quality care.

Attitude and confidence – This strategy will help in a health and social care setting because it will help the patient feel more comfortable. If a nurse is acting rude then the patient will not speak to her therefore, the hospital will not be able to deliver the best quality care. However, if the nurse is being polite and she will listen to the patient then the patient will tell her/him about his/her issues. The nurse has to be confident as well because if she is not confident then she will not be able to effectively communicate with the patient.

Appropriate environment – This strategy is helpful in a health and social care setting to overcome barriers because it lets the patient feel more comfortable to answer questions . For example, some patients feel more relaxed when there is more than one person in the room because he/she might not feel as intimidated when the room isn’t completely empty and silent. However, some patients might feel more comfortable when the room is silent and the doctor is the only person in the room so that the patient would be able to hear the doctor and the doctor would be able to heart the patient therefore, there won’t be any misunderstandings . To overcome this barrier the doctor or the nurse should ask the patient if he/she wants to speak alone or with someone else in the room. This will make sure that communication barriers are not created and if they are created that they are able to be overcome.

Staff training – This strategy allows the patient to receive better quality care because the staff will be highly trained and they will know what they are doing and how to take care of the patient. Also the nurses and doctors will know what to do in different situations such as the patient being depressed or aggressive. To overcome these barriers the nurse must ask the patient what is wrong so , first she has to use verbal communication and once she finds out what’s wrong she can use non- verbal and verbal communication to solve the problem.

Human aids to communication

* Interpreters * Translators * Signers * Mentors * Befrienders

Befrienders – This strategy allows the patient to open up more and answer more questions because befrienders are closer to the patient than the doctor with the patient therefore, the patient will feel more comfortable talking to the befriender since the befriender acts more like a friend than a stranger. When the befriender finds out the necessary information about the patient then the befriender can proceed to tell the doctor about the issues the patient is going through therefore, this lets the doctor to proceed with the treatment so that the patient would get the best possible help

Mentors – Mentors are a good strategy that allows the patient to receive the best quality care. Mentors help the newer staff so, that they would know what to do with the patient and so that they could help the patient as best as they can. This strategy helps to overcome different barriers because the staff will be informed on how to act with patient in different situations and how to effectively avoid communication barriers.

Translators – translators are important because they have very good reading and writing skills. For example, they will be able to read through an original material and then rewrite it in a different language which will make sure that the patient understands what is written therefore, translators will make sure that there are no barriers of communication between the doctor and the patient.

Signers – signers will make sure that a deaf patient and a doctor will be able to communicate effectively. For example, if a doctor doesn’t know sign language but he needs to communicate with the patient to find out what is wrong then the doctor can get a signer and the signer will find out what the patient is saying and he/she will the doctor as well as the signer will listen to the doctor and then use sign language to tell the patient what the doctor said.

Interpreters - interpreters convert sign or spoken language statements from one language to another. For example, a doctor will give a statement to the interpreter and then the interpreter has to memorise the statement and then tell the statement to the patient in a different spoken or sign language. This will make sure that there are no barriers to communication.

Technological aids to communication

* Hearing aids * Text phones * Minicoms * Voice activated software

Voice activated software – voice or speech recognition is a way of receiving and interpreting dictation or understanding and carrying out spoken commands. This is important in a health and social care setting because it is easier for people to call their GP to make an appointment or send them a message because they wouldn’t need to press any buttons. This is very useful for people with dyslexia. For example, if a patient with dyslexia wants to send a message to their doctor they could just speak instead of using the keyboard to type out the message. This will also lead to less misunderstandings.

Text phones and minicoms – these are used by people who have hearing or speaking difficulties. Text phones and minicoms are important to deaf people because they need to be able to communicate from a distance as well therefore, people who have hearing or speaking disabilities are able to make appointments from their home. For example, a person with hearing or speaking disabilities would be able to make an appointment to a GP using their phone. If text phones and minicoms wouldn’t exist than people with hearing or speaking difficulties would have to go to a GP just to make an appointment which could be far away or perhaps the person wouldn’t find enough time to go there.

Hearing aids – a hearing aid is a small electronic device that goes behind a person’s ear it makes the sounds louder so that people with hearing difficulties could hear better. Hearing aids are useful because people with hearing difficulties can communicate better. If hearing aids didn’t exist then people with hearing difficulties would find it very hard to communicate with people. For example, if a nurse is trying to explain something to a patient with a hearing difficulty he would be able to hear it better therefore, it won’t lead to any misunderstandings.

References:

Btec level 3 national health and social care book 1