Communication Skills in Healthcare Settings

1. Introduction

An interaction between professionals and the clients form the basis of issue detection. While working with patients who have been suffering from mental agony, trauma, stress, depression or anxiety like Farzana, in the case study one, it becomes more difficult and sensitive due to the mental condition of the patients. For instance, providing social work dissertation help can be crucial in these scenarios. Giving below a reflective analysis in the case of Farzana where she is a 70 years old lady who suffered a stroke leaving her right side paralyzed and with certain communication disorders. Unable to conduct her personal activities independently she became reliant on the staff of her care setting. At the time of her release, I have arranged for her a discharge based on the conversation held between the ward manager, the social care worker and the patient herself. Here is an evaluation on the conversation based on Gibbs’ Reflective theory.

2. Analysis of responses between the practitioner and client and one to one working skill

In a healthcare setting developing proper communication skills needs to be important for attending clients especially who require extra care and tenderness as the requirements for each person varies. Without the ability to work on the individual level communication gap arises that often leads to misinterpretation of patients’ ailments delaying the entire treatment procedure or even making it worse (Prospects.ac.uk, 2020). In order to develop a good working skill on the personal level the practitioner or the service care providers need to have high listening capability not just merely from the outside but understanding thoroughly the patients’ viewpoints which have been exercised by the social worker in the case of Farzana (Kardong-Edgren et al. 2019). I have witnessed some gaps in the communication skill between the client and the ward manager.

The conversation made me realize that Farzana, even after she became ill and remained highly dependent on the staff members, were unwilling to go to any residential care units and was adamant regarding staying at her own home despite being vulnerable and weak. This showed that she used to be an independent woman prior to the incident and wanted to remain so. The ward manager showed some kind of reluctance at letting her stay at home due to her dependency for cooking food, medications, toilets usage and so on. On the contrary, I have seen that the social care worker was more understanding and concerned regarding the client’s needs and was trying to send her back to home with all possible attentiveness. Farzana was also very much attached to her religious faith, the temple visits and missed the other members of her temple. The social worker understood her attachment to them and thus paved out ways for further communication between Farzana and her temple members.

3. Ethics and values of the conversation

A caring conversation needs to abide the ethical code of conduct which was duly reflected in the social care worker’s communication. As influenced by Clark (2017), self-esteem of a patient due to the passivity often gets inflicted by ailments while maintaining. If such patients are not being reciprocated properly, the professionals should be careful not to extort the patient’s self-respect (Independentnurse.co.uk, 2020). I have seen that this responsibility was somewhat lacking in the conversation of the ward manager where the communication repeatedly portrayed Farzana as weak and susceptible. Though it could have been out of concern but it still lowered her self-regard and dignity. Therefore, the morality and the ethical values in communication plays an important role in the wellbeing of a patient.

Differential account of personal value and professional ethics

As an evaluator of the whole conversation I personally felt that the management should not decide for Farzana against her wish as she is already dealing with anxiety and is very conscious regarding her independence. It seems like she does not really like to rely on others and that harms her self-esteem. A residential care stay would probably not be a good option for Farzana. As a responsible unit it is the management’s concern to ensure that the patient meets his or her needs.

On the contrary as a professional I believe that prioritizing her needs should not be the only concern of the management. The professionals are bound to follow all the regulations and standards related to the healthcare framework (Wager et al. 2017). In this context, I felt that Farzana does not seem to be strong physically to lead an independent life at her own place. Therefore, it is the management’s duty to take action accordingly (Hemadeh et al. 2019). Considering her situation she needs to be kept under observation until recovers fully if cannot be handed over to a responsible caregiver or such a home.

4. Strengths and weaknesses of the meeting

The whole conversation had both bad and good contents that have enabled me to understand the perspective of the service seeker Farzana as well as the ward manager. As an evaluator I feel that the conversation was not poor, instead it was aided by professional standards (Stewart, 2020). The social worker’s participation in this incident was really considerable. That individual was very much aware of what to speak and his conduct. It was almost an effective verbal interaction among the three individuals.

Farzana was greeted well by both the ward manager and the social worker. Moreover, two of them seemed to be well coordinated with each other. Considering Farzana’s speech issues they tried to make her feel comfortable by accepting her small and interrupted replies very attentively and patiently. The communication can be considered to be productive also, as through this Farzana’s wishes and willingness to go back home came across clearly. It was evident that she did not want to move to any care home. Along with that several other concerns regarding her stay, temple, household works, food and other received my insights.

The only thing I felt was that the practical approach of the ward manager in front of Farzana was quite insensitive. Pointing out the disabilities of a concerned patient in her presence is quite discouraging (Stortenbeker et al. 2018). Moreover, it can be said that the conversation did not reach a conclusion regarding the need of an opinion from an occupational therapist. Because of that the decision got delayed.

Conclusion

In relation to the insight that I have gained from this overall communication I can say that the management is still not fully aware about Farzana’s present scenario regarding her house and physical capabilities also. Considering her interests for her temple, independent living as she emphasized during the conversation, I believe that Farzana needs to recover fully in order to stay on her own. She seems to be confident and still needs assistance to cope at home. Until and unless the management can assure her well-being at her own house or the social helpers can arrange for reliable help, Farzana's discharge can wait.

References

Clark, C.M., 2017. An evidence-based approach to integrate civility, professionalism, and ethical practice into nursing curricula. Nurse Educator, 42(3), pp.120-126.

Hemadeh, R., Hammoud, R., Kdouh, O., Jaber, T. and Ammar, L., 2019. Patient satisfaction with primary healthcare services in Lebanon. The International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 34(1), pp.e423-e435.

Kardong-Edgren, S., Oermann, M.H. and Rizzolo, M.A., 2019. Emerging theories influencing the teaching of clinical nursing skills. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 50(6), pp.257-262.

Stortenbeker, I.A., Houwen, J., Lucassen, P.L., Stappers, H.W., Assendelft, W.J., van Dulmen, S., Olde Hartman, T.C. and Das, E., 2018. Quantifying positive communication: doctor’s language and patient anxiety in primary care consultations. Patient education and counseling, 101(9), pp.1577-1584.

Wager, K.A., Lee, F.W. and Glaser, J.P., 2017. Health care information systems: a practical approach for health care management. John Wiley & Sons.