Analysis of WIT Film on Effective Communication

Running head: ANALYSIS OF WIT FILM ON EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
ANALYSIS OF WIT FILM ON EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1ANALYSIS OF WIT FILM ON EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
Communication plays a vital role in establishing relationships between people. Effective
communication is extremely vital in developing therapeutic relationships. To ensure that the
nurses provide proper healthcare to the patients in an ethical manner with proper safety and
quality, effective communication has to be applied by the nursing staff (Farrington and
Townsend 2014). Communication is important for nurses as it is the main tool for effectively
relaying and interpreting information to the physicians, the patients, the family members and the
caregivers. Effective communication includes both verbal and non-verbal methods for sending
out messages vividly and lucidly (Matusitz and Spear 2014). The present paper analyses the
effective communication methods in the film “WIT” by Mike Nicholas that came out in the year
2001. Further, the essay also provides a reflection of the gaps in knowledge and lays out the
plans for improving effective communication while providing nursing care.
The movie WIT stars Emma Thompson as Vivian Bearing, an English Literature
professor and is recognized for her immense wisdom in metaphysical poetry. Her life suddenly
turns upside down when she is diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer (WIT, 2001). She is
persuaded by Harvey Kelekian, played by Christopher Lloyd, a well-known physician to undergo
chemotherapy treatment in order to treat her disease. However, the team of researchers led by
Harvey employs ineffective means of communication that ultimately causes increased pain to the
patient than her real illness, as they are insensitive in their methods. She is frequently greeted by
the phrase “how are you feeling today?” as a form of greeting and to enquire about her condition
(Ozcakir and Bilgel 2014). Vivian then narrates how she felt on that particular day after hours of
operation that she had to go through. Vivian reflects on her past memories and compares that
with her current situation when she is asked the same question. In the movie, when Doctor
Posner with the team of his researchers asks her the same question, Vivian replies that she is

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fine. Then Doctor Posner takes his team of physicians for a meeting. Vivian believes that after
her experience of teaching, she could contribute to existing knowledge. For example, in other
incident from the movie, when Doctor Posner takes an assessment of Vivian in an isolation
room, he asks her again, about how she was feeling that day. She has the same response that she
was feeling fine. Then she goes on to describe her feelings as well as her attitude regarding her
condition in the isolation room when the doctor left her after her assessment. Even that day,
Doctor Posner had asked her how she was feeling after the series of treatments she had to
undergo and then she was sent back to her room. Vivian describes her feelings that she was
distressed about the treatments that she had to undergo before Doctor Posner took over. In an
overview, of the communication that took place between Vivian and Doctor Posner, it can be
seen that the Doctor often uses the phrase how she felt that particular day which is met with the
same response from Vivian that she felt fine. The phrase has an automatic and spontaneous
response in the form of the word fine. The concerned individual is obliged to respond in a
manner that does not offend the party asking the question (Ha and Longnecker 2010). The same
criteria is applied to the patients as well, as they feel obliged to respond in a positive manner as
they do not want to disappoint the care taker and the doctor even if they felt ill or uncomfortable
in their situation (Bramhall 2014). This also reflects that the phrase converts into the form of
greeting and not enquiry. In that scenario, the patient is unable to express freely his attitudes or
any feelings to the doctor and cannot tell the exact distressing situation that he is going through.
Thus, it becomes an ineffective means of communication where there is no proper feedback from
the patients.
However, there are certain scenes in the movie where there is a portrayal of how effective
communication is important in proving nursing care to the patients. Nurse Susie is the one in the

3ANALYSIS OF WIT FILM ON EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
movie who establishes good therapeutic relationships with Vivian and deals in effective
communication with her. She is the one who answers Vivian early in the morning and engages
into communication with her. She asks Vivian why she is awake so early in the morning at 4
a.m. she is the one who is caring enough to look into the problems of Susie by engaging into
good conversation with her. She uses proper body language and posture to show that she cares
about her well-being. Vivian also responds effectively as she replies that she is unable to sleep
because of overthinking things. Susie maintains proper eye contact with Vivian and Vivian gains
confidence as she expresses freely to her that she was scared. Susie provides body contact and
that is a way of showing that the person is concerned about the other. When a nurse touches a
patient’s hand, it expresses that the nurse is empathizing with the patient’s condition.
Maintaining eye contact gives the patient much needed confidence that encourages them to
express their distress in an open manner (Garrett 2016). Another important part of effective
communication is body posture. Positive body posture helps reduce anxiety in patients. Thus,
Susie was the embodiment of effective communication skills in the movie through her verbal and
non-verbal methods.
While reflecting upon the movie, it showed how the students learning the profession and
others in the health profession could gain knowledge from it. I learnt about the effective
therapeutic techniques. I also learned how important effective communication was not only in
nursing but in our daily lives as well. The gap in knowledge that was addressed was how
effective non-verbal means of communication are. It is important to maintain eye contact while
taking to people, maintain a proper body posture gives positive vibes to the listener and it creates
a sense of confidence and encouragement in the other party to express their feelings and attitudes
effectively (Asan et al, 2015). It implants trust, empathy and sympathy within the individual. For

4ANALYSIS OF WIT FILM ON EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
example, simply asking someone “how are you feeling today?” is extremely mechanical and
does not provide a sense of connection between the party asking the question and the one
responding to it. It is incredibly mechanical and expresses a formal tone. However, when a
person uses certain non-verbal methods along with speech, it enhances the quality of
communication (Kaushal 2014). The next thing that I learned was that it requires a humanistic
approach to take care of the patients as it helps foster emotional positivity and improves the
mental health of the patients who is undergoing certain physical illness (Wong 2017). Lastly,
communicating in a simple language that is vivid and lucid in its own way helps the patient
comprehend speech and take decisions about their own health care (Ojrzynska 2016). The plan to
improve my communication skills would be identifying phrases that can be used to inquire the
patients about their health so that I do not come across as a mechanical means of getting out
information from them. This will improve the relation with the patient who will gain the
confidence to express effectively about their exact feelings about their distressing situation and
not hide anything that affects them (Gordon, Deland and Kelly 2015). This will also help in
having open conversations and be an effective means of therapeutic communication. I will have
to learn ways to improve my body language. Understanding when to maintain eye contact with
appropriate facial expressions will help in aligning verbal communication with non-verbal
communication (Phutela 2015). Thus, this will improve effective communication and establish
healthier therapeutic relationships in health care systems.
Thus, in conclusion it can be said that the movie WIT was an effective example of how
effective communication can improve relationship between the patients and the health care
professionals. Therefore, effective verbal and non-verbal communication is extremely vital in
order to understand what the patient is going through and will give them the confidence to tell

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their story. The health care professionals should take a humanistic approach to understand their
patient’s distress that can establish appropriate therapeutic relationships that will provide a
quality and safe environment to the patients.

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