Hey,
I had an interesting experience on prac this week which really made me realise how effective non verbal communication can be. My supervisor and I were asked to do an induced sputum on one of the patients on our ward. This patient was a Chinese gentlemen who spoke no english and was also a bit drowsy and confused. The sample was needed asap so we didn't have time to wait for family members or an interpreter to help us out.
When taking an induced sputum sample their is a fairly strict procedure which must be carried out and we thought it was going to be quite challenging to covey to the patient what we wanted him to do without being able to verbally tell him. Adding to this, the procedure needed to be done in a sterilised room with my supervisor and I wearing masks, gowns and gloves which would have been very intimidating for the patient.
Anyway, I was given the task of instructing the patient what to do - wash mouth out with saline solution then empty into cup, then every 5th breath with nebuliser take a deep breath for 20minutes in total, then spit sputum into cup without touching edges. In the end it turned out to be very easy through using hand gestures and demonstration conveying to the patient what we wanted to him to do and make him feel relaxed in the unusual environment.
Has anyone else had an experience on prac where they had to rely on non verbal communication?
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2 comments:
I have had similar experiences with patients where non verbal communication has played an important role. Earlier on in the year i had a patient who was chinese also and spoke no english. She was on a gerontolgy ward and would not get out of bed and ambulate. The best strategies i used with this patient was a bit like charades i would demonstrate an action i.e. eating and get the patient to respond by either nodding yes or no or to thumbs up or down. Also this patient was familiar with certain popular english words such as eat, toilet, walk etc. so i limited my verbal communication to these words and awaited a patient response. When in doubt i also sought a family memeber who could translate with me what the patient was saying or a staff member of the same decent. I tried to schedule my treatment time when this particular staff member or family member was available.
hi
i found that i had to rely on non-verbal communication a lot on my paediatric placement. Even kids that understand what you are saying still find it difficult to follow instructions. Often it is more effective to use hand signals combined with simple, concise instructions to get kids to do what you want them to do.
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