Elderly people can get particularly frustrated if there are communication difficulties. Elderly people and people with disabilities can feel depressed and isolated. In order to prevent a depressed mood state that results from communication difficulties the results from communication difficulties the staff of a skilled nursing facility should demonstrate patience and provide the elderly residents with alternative methods of communication when possible.
Difficult, complex and sensitive issues that occur within health and social care residential accommodation;
Communication difficulties related to dementia and stroke can result in Major comprehension difficulties are generally related to other, more serious, health problems.
Potential difficult, complex and sensitive issues arise in health and social care;
If you are working in a health and social care environment and a difficult, complex or sensitive issue arises it is important to remember how the communication cycle works.
For example, a difficult complex and sensitive issue could be if a parsley blind man has not his hearing aid in and the health and social care worker cannot find it. The man is getting frustrated about this, the health and social care worker is trying to explain this to him but he can’t hear her properly as she is talking to fast as she is rushing and is not talking aloud enough this makes communication very difficult between the care worker and service user.
In this case the care worker must use the communication cycle and remember how it works as it is essential to use when communicating difficult, complex and sensitive issues.
The first thing a social care worker should consider is the environment is it suitable, for example is there any noise, distractions Etc, should consider there age group and the way they and talking to them and is it the right type of settings and as a health and social care worker what would you like to achieve and when the client needs are met. For example, are they frightened, distressed, angry, aggression requires privacy or specialised support and only give your opinion if asked.
As a health and social care worker you should be able to communicate effectively with service users. They should understand how service users feel as individuals.
As a health and social care worker you should be clear about what they want in these difficult situations and always be able to respond to the service user’s if there are any questions and but it in a way they will understand. Always offer both support and reassurance when communicating.
As a Health and Social Care worker you must also develop the skills of active listening by;
-never interrupt a service user.
-respect silence, as it lets the service user think.
-observe body language, ask questions and saying ‘‘yes’’ and ‘‘I see’’.
-always show that you understand what is been said and reflect what is being said.
-if possible also repeat in a simpler form of language to show that you understand and always ‘‘paraphrase’’.
On my work experience I evidenced very good effective communication. For example, there was a man that was 80 years old and was partially deaf. The staff in the home when communicating to him got down to his eye level and use eye-to-eye contact, spoke very clearly, they always used the right wording and always checked that the man understood what was being said. The staff also waited for feed back off the man and waited for the man to think of what to say.
This is a very complex situation, because I also noticed that this man’s family visited him a lot and they did not have the same ways of communicating and was not as patient with the man as the staffs were. I noticed that the man got very frustrated by this as he was not given the time to answer his family. His family members also answered a lot of questions and the man found got very upset as he felt he could answer the question given the time.
Overall I felt the staffs in the home were given the right training to over come communication problems. They overcame this difficult, complex and sensate issue that occurred. By watching the service user I have mentioned I felt his communication needs were all meet in the home and he always seemed happy that he when staff communicated to him.
