Sensory impairment barrier; this can occur in the communication where the person communicating has problems with one of their senses. There are 5 senses; touch, smell, sight, taste and hearing. If a person that cannot see came to collect the prescription from their GP , the GP needs to make sure that when they get the medicine from their pharmacy every pack of tablets or syrup is in braille boxes so that the person knows they are taking the right tablets in case they have more than one.
Disability as a barrier; this can occur when a person has a mental disability such as learning problems and is trying to send a message across. This means that if the person with this kind of disability was trying to send a message across there is a risk that nurse will not understand their message perfectly as people can sometime mistake the words. These people cannot be left on their own to visit places like Health centre as they may get lost or they may not explain what their needs are. They should always be occupied with somebody that is taking care of them and they know what they are like and if they have any special needs like allergies to special tablets and etc.
Personality; this is one of many barriers that occur in communication between nurse and the patient at emergency room. If the patient with dull personality comes and nurse ask what is wrong, the lack of the details form the side of the patient will not give her enough details to hold on to so she will have to figure it out on her own. Which is sometimes very hard to do as not every injury or illness in emergency room is visible. The lack of details of accident in emergency room may lead to risking the life of patient.
Self-esteem issues; when in the communication between professional and service user barrier occurs, because one side is lacking on the self-esteem. If there is a new doctor and came to their first case of something that they didn’t meet so far in their medical career, they may seem that they have low self-esteem and this will cause a barrier between the doctor and service user as service user may feel scared that they have visited a doctor that do not what to do and they will not come back to see that doctor again.
Anxiety; if there is a person that happens to have anxiety issues and is talking to leader of group therapies there may be an barrier of not telling them the whole story as they will feel anxious. These people are in unstoppable worry which has big effect on their everyday life cycle and can change the personality of an individual. Communication with these people is questioned as anxious people have different responses and can act aggressively.
Depression; People that have depression they feel that they have nothing left in life and that they have no reason to live. When person that has depression is trying to send across information they may not give full details of their feelings as they think nobody cares which can be barrier for GP that is trying to meet their needs. These people often feel sad and miserable. If they get ill there is a chance that they may not even seek help such as GP as they will think that they will not help them. Also
Aggression; People that have aggression problems are likely to have strong emotions and if they are told to do something they don’t like or they disagree they will argue back and even can act violently. This can be a barrier in communication with professional as they may get scared of a patient with this sort of acting. Professional will work under pressure as they will be not sure how they will react to anything that will be discussed.
Submissiveness; a person that is submissive will accept anything that is told to them. In communication between submissive and health visitor they are likely to accept anything that has been said to them as they often do not even have their own opinion and will do anything that has been suggested or been done previously in their case.
Assumptions; this is when person use assumptions too often before they know all of the information. This is very likely to occur in any conversation with health professional as people always tents to be scared of finding out their test result and they assume the worst. Because of that if there is a sensitive message that needs to be send across people should talk directly to each other so that person can hear all the details clearly and no assumptions are made.
Values and Beliefs; People have different values and beliefs when it comes to their health. When person with different beliefs and values comes to hospital and their life is at risk but because of their faith family will tell them that they do not allow blood transfusion, they need to respect that as some faiths are different to others and that if they did give a person the blood transfusion it may end up that person that was saved would end up really mad once recovered and say that they didn’t respect hers/ his preferences.
Jargon; people using jargon can use the type of language that individual may not understand and because of that they would not send them to the right message which could affect their life. When people communicate with professional they need to make sure that if they haven’t understand some terms or word they will ask again and make sure that the message is clear when they are leaving the room and they know what they need to do.
Cultural variations; this barrier can occur with anybody that has different culture brought up. If young person came to see a specialised nurse and discus something that they may find strange they need to watch out that the language that they use it’s not slang or anything like this as some words have different meaning across different age groups or cultures.
Abuse and power; this is when person is short of time they will not always give you list of your options but choose an option for you because they have this kind of power. For example if there was a person that came to see a doctor about their tonsils getting infected all the time doctor should suggest to see somebody that would give them more details while they are getting infected and what are the different options they have, but doctor can only say that there is an option of taking them tonsils out person will get them removed even they could only find better medication that would stop the infection from occurring again and again.
Effects of drugs and alcohol; When people drink alcohol far too much by their limit they can get very aggressive while talking to nurse or doctor that is treating them and they are likely to get into conflict .This mostly happens at emergency department in hospitals where accident happened to person that was drunk and they don’t want to be cured because they think they can handle it. Often these people need to be calmed down by police so that nurse or doctor can carry on with treating. This behaviour is mostly uncontrollable and if the person was sober they wouldn’t react that way.
Bibiana Gradosova
St Benedict’s Sixth Form
Centre Number; 36161
Candidate Number;