Importance of Therapeutic Communication in Clinical Practice

Running head: CASE STUDY OF JACOB
Name of the student
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1CASE STUDY OF JACOB
Introduction:
Communication issues are highlighted as one of the crucial issues in the health care
sectors which reduce the effective clinical practice (Abdolrahimi et al., 2017). Accumulated
research suggested that in recent decade patients has become interestingly informed about their
conditions in order to participate in the decision-making process for specific intervention
(MacLean et al., 2016). Therefore, the importance of therapeutic communication in clinical
practice is intensifying gradually for promoting the wellbeing of the patient. The case study
represents the investigations of the sudden death of Mr. Roy Rodney Jacob, a 48 years old
aboriginal man who died unexpectedly in 31st August at Cherbourg hospital. The team who were
investigating the unexpected death reported a serious of issues associated with missed diagnosed
and inability to recognize and respond to the clinical deterioration. This paper will provide
critical analysis of the case with the assistance of a statement in the following paragraphs.
Discussion:
In the clinical setting, therapeutic communication is defined as a process of the face to
face interactions with the aim of supporting the wellbeing of the patient (Arnold et al., 2016).
Therefore, it is the responsibility of the health professionals to be transparent to the patients for
promoting shared decision making and faster recovery. Therapeutic communication empowers
patients, boost self-esteem and provide a comfortable environment to a patient in order to gain an
understanding of the mental state of the patient. As discussed by Cook (2015), therapeutic
communication is highly associated with accountability as communication is a huge component
of accountability. According to Finnell et al. (2015), accountability is considered as self-
competency of health professionals which reflects through taking responsibility for their own

2CASE STUDY OF JACOB
actions, decisions, and judgment. Accountability encompasses interpersonal skills, safe
practice, communication and decision making (Leonenko & Drach‐Zahavy, 2016). For
examples, engaging patients in therapeutic communications before proceeding with the treatment
facilitates the diagnosis of patients because it provides the opportunity to the health professionals
to gain the adequate information regarding medical history, concerns and preferred treatment
which further assists in designing accurate interventions. Consequently, patients, feel safe,
comfortable and empowered which is a part of professional accountability. Hence, these two
domains are interconnected.
Health care issue:
The case study focused on the investigation of the unexpected death of Mr. Roy Rodney
Jacob, a 48 years old aboriginal man in 31st August, at Cherbourg hospital. The case report
suggested that the doctor issued death certificate highlighting lobber pneumonia because of
cirrhosis associated with heavy alcohol consumption as a reason behind unexpected death.
However, during detailed investigation review team identified a serious of issues such as missed
diagnosis, inability to recognize clinical deterioration (Coroners Court of Queensland, 2018).
Besides, the review team reported that the health professionals focused on the alcohol
intoxications that they neglected other probable of unexpected death. During investigations, the
review team highlighted that the miscommunication between physician and nurses also
influenced the unexpected death since they were unable to detect perform the regular clinical
observation despite the presence of clinical protocol of recognizing and on time responding to
the health issues (Coroners Court of Queensland, 2018).. Therefore, the paper intended to
provide an in-depth, critical analysis of unexpected death with the assistance of the statement
provided below.