UNIT 1
DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION.
UNDERSTAND FACTORS, WHICH MAY INFLUENCE COMMUNICATION AND INTERPERSONAL INTERACTIONS WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE SETTINGS.
P3
I am going to use the case study of ‘Mrs Singh’ to show an understanding of the range of factors that influence communication with particular reference to health and social care.
Mrs Singh has a history a bowel problems she was recently admitted to hospital to undergo major bowel surgery, Mrs Singh is now going to be discharged, There is a meeting arranged with the Multi-disciplinary team which will decide on the follow up care Mrs Singh will need when she arrives back in her own home. Mrs Singh will be at the meeting along with her husband who like Mrs Singh does not understand a lot of English, as this is not there preferred language.
Mr and Mrs Singh are collected from the ward by one of the nurses just as dinner is being brought around for the patients and shown to the ward day room, When they enter the room is already full of people all talking amongst themselves, some of the staff are eating their lunch at the table as they wont have the time to eat it after this meeting is finished. The day room is very hot and stuffy and there is a strong smell of today’s lunch in the air, The room is very bright as there are no blinds up and the sun is shinning directly through the windows, there is a large table in the center of the room and as Mr and Mrs Singh enter people start to sit around it leaving room at the bottom of the table for them to sit, They take their seats on two small chairs at the bottom of the table and look at each other for reassurance. The meeting is started by the doctor who took central role and spoke very loud in order to get the attention of the other members of the group he starts by saying to the group that he hasn’t much time and really would like to get this meeting over as quickly as possible. After which he looks at the team and gives a brief description of Mrs Singh’s condition and reason for her stay in hospital. He tells the team that Mrs Singh would need to be seen in her own home to be assessed on her needs, and asks the physiotherapist and occupational therapist to arrange this amongst themselves. He looks exhausted as he checks his watch and says he is just about to finish a 12 hour shift, he asks the ward nurse if she would like to add anything to the meeting and again checks his watch. The ward nurse is also very tired as it is the end of her shift and looks very tense she says that Mrs Singh Is fine to leave the hospital under the care of the social worker and looks at her to take over the meeting. Mrs Jones the social worker entered the meeting late saying hello to the other M D T members but failing to introduce herself to Mrs Singh who is still sitting at the bottom of the table unaware of what is being discussed, Mrs Jones is still sitting with her coat on she has spent the last 5mins sending txt messages on her mobile phone and Mr and Mrs Singh are not even sure of who she is although she will play an important role in Mrs Singh’s recovery. Mrs Jones apologizes to the group and says she has an important call to make and that she will have to catch up with Mrs Singh in her own home later in the week. She then stands up and leaves the room. At this point the occupational therapist begins to speak, she speaks calmly and quietly and looks at Mr and Mrs Singh as she says she is concerned about Mrs Singh being discharged so soon after her surgery and wants to make sure Mrs Singh is happy about this, Although Mr and Mrs Singh could not understand a lot of what she was saying Anne the occupational therapist looked at them and moved around the table to sit beside Mrs Singh as she had noticed that the sun was shining directly into the window and Mr and Mrs Singh were unable to see her properly or make out any facial expressions which may of helped them understand what she was saying. She would be involved with Mrs Singh on a day to day basis and spoke slowly to Mrs Singh and her husband to explain that she would go to their home in order to see if there was anything that Mrs Singh could use in order to help her recoverey, Anne was aware that there was a language barrier between them and tryed to overcome this by using pictures of aids that she thought could aid Mrs Singh. Although the meeting was being rushed along by other members in the group Anne thought it important to reassure Mrs Singh that she would be ok. Anne stayed very calm throughout the meeting listening to the points of the other members and gave Mr and Mrs Singh some leflets, which were translated into their preferred language. For the first time in this meeting Mrs Singh looked at her husband and smiled. At this point the doctor began waving his hands about asking if the dietician had anything to add and again looking at his watch. The dietician said that she found all the noise from the ward very distracting and gave Mrs singh a list of foods that she should avoid and another list of foods that she should try to eat each day to help her condition she did not take into account what foods if any Mrs Singh’s religion or beliefs would have on this list as she though this would take up to much time as she could not speak English and there was no point trying to discuss it with her. Throughout the meeting she showed a negative attitude towards Mr ans Mrs Singh because they could not join in the meeting and just had a sit and listen. The district nurse spent much of the meeting looking at the very tense doctor and thought it best that she would follow up Mrs Singh up at home. At this point the MDT agree on the care package for Mrs Singh. Throughout the meeting Mr and Mrs Singh have been unaware of what people were talking about with the exception of Anne the occupational therapist, they have been unable to put any of their worries or concerns across. They were withdrawn from the meeting looking only at each other for time to time for reassurance from one another. They never spoke during the meeting and looked very tense and confused. At the end of the meeting they nodded their heads in agreement and left the room.
