Managing Family Communication in Crisis

This assignment involves a scenario where a patient's family reacts aggressively when informed about the patient's serious head injury. It focuses on applying interpersonal communication skills to manage this crisis peacefully, maintain honesty, and reduce family distress. The task is to discuss how family members might have reacted differently and cooperated more effectively for better communication outcomes.

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
COMMUNICATION FRAMEWORK ...........................................................................................1
ANALYSIS OF THE SCENARIO .................................................................................................1
APPLICATION OF THE FRAMEWORK ....................................................................................2
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
In this scenario ''I'' being a registered nurse in the local emergency department in a
hospital where my colleagues asked me to go out of the waiting room and speak to the family
members of the patient who was a young woman. She was brought to the emergency department
as she fell outside the nightclub while celebrating his friend's new job party. The young woman
got a serious head injury and was presently unconscious. She was being prepared to transfer in
intensive care unit. As I approached and introduced myself in a polite manner to the family
members who were the patient's brother and sister, they came really close in anger and poked me
on the shoulder and started shouting in a really loud voice which made me feel threatened.
COMMUNICATION FRAMEWORK
According to Arnold, E. & Boggs, (2015). Communications are formal or informal
structures of any organisation which is used to support the needs for conversation. Here, I have
used the interpersonal communication skills because it makes the people comfortable to
exchange their feelings, information, etc through the verbal or non-verbal way of
communication. It helps people to get aware of the medicine used, treatment of the patient. Also,
creates self confidence and management to be aware of the patient's family members rude
behaviour. It brings self motivation, independence, adaptability and makes focused to
concentrate on the task or the goal, But here, according to Flint, h & et.al., (2017) as I was
threatened by the family members due to lack of self confidence and my introvert nature I was
unable to explain them situation of the patient as well as to protect myself from the threatening.
This was my incorrect decision which lead the family members make wrong assumptions about
me and they turned to speak in arrogant and harsh manner.
ANALYSIS OF THE SCENARIO
According to Kurtz, S. & et.al., (2016) the failure of recognizing and following the two
way communication always leads to a negative attitude and in an ineffective communication. An
effective communication is not unidirectional and requires an understanding of the patient's
feelings, expressions, needs to make him comfortable and recover faster. In contrast to this
according to Liberman & et.al., (2017) argued that it is not sufficient to only understand the
patients and their feelings but also the manner to present the messages, information which is
easily acceptable and clearly understandable to them.
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The information provided to the patients or the family members by the hospital should be
factual. The factual information helps to find, the patients name and other personal information
to inform to the family members if not informed previously. The E-mails, letters and
conversation should have the specific and required details that are ethical and accurate. Here, the
hospital was honest with the patient's family about her critical situation. The family members
were told that the patient is imminently needed to shift in intensive acre department for better
treatment. The doctors were available and responsive to the patient as soon as they diagnose her
to be critically injured.
The doctors ensured the safety of the patient by imminently shifting her to the intensive
care department. There was a proper communication regarding the treatment between the
patient's family members and the hospital. The patient was critically injured as her fell and had a
head injury. The listening and attending to the patients and her family members was a tough task
as the family was very impatient and shouting loudly in the hospital. The doctors were honest to
tell that there was a risk to save the patient which made the family members angry and as a result
they started shouting and threatening me in a loud voice.
APPLICATION OF THE FRAMEWORK
As per the requirements of the scenario I have used the interpersonal communication
skills to speak effectively to the family members of the patient for the effective communication.
I used a face to face communication method to talk and explain the family members about the
criticality of the patient but the family members did not cooperate and started shouting and
poking me rudely. According to DeBenedectis, C. M. & et.al., (2017) effective communication
involves clear message transmission from one person to other, effective body language and
influencing communication. On the other hand according to Fujimori, M. & et.al., (2014)
effective communication only emphasis on face to face communication as it shows the facial
expression of the person which easily be read.
The body language of the person play an important role in effective communication.
Through a proper body language one can easily explain the complex situation. The family
members threatened me due to which I lost my confidence and could not explain the situation
properly. The impact of proper body language includes a facial expression, body gestures,
communication skills, eye contact, etc. If I had gone with a smiling face to the family members
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they might have reacted peacefully and deal with situation in a claim manner. They would not
have shouted or poked me harshly. The lack of confidence and wrong body language lead the
situation turn to in unhandled manner. There was a fault of family to over react on the situation,
they would have handled the situation in peaceful manner and cooperated with the other staff and
me to make the communication in better and effective way.
CONCLUSION
Through the above scenario it can be concluded that while celebrating new job of her
friend the patient had a very serious head injury and was advised to shift in the intensive care
department. I was asked to speak and tell about the situation of the woman to the family
members of the patient , but they shouted in a loud voice and poked on my shoulder which made
me threatened. I have applied the interpersonal communication skills in the conversation to make
the family members comfortable, to understand the feelings and the expression the family but
they had a very angry expression towards the hospital which threatened me. It tried to be honest
with them to avoid the complaints of miscommunication. I was trying to maintain the best
communication and interpersonal skills to reduce the pain and temperament of the family so that
they can deal with the situation with peace.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Kurtz, S. & et.al., (2016). Teaching and learning communication skills in medicine. CRC press.
Arnold, E. & Boggs, (2015). Interpersonal Relationships-E-Book: Professional Communication
Skills for Nurses. Elsevier Health Sciences.
DeBenedectis, C. M. & et.al., (2017). Coming out of the dark: a curriculum for teaching and
evaluating radiology residents’ communication skills through simulation. Journal of the
American College of Radiology.14(1).87-91.
Flint, h & et.al., (2017). Discussing serious news: Teaching communication skills through role
play with bereaved parents. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine®.34(3). 254-
257.
Fujimori, M. & et.al., (2014). Effect of communication skills training program for oncologists
based on patient preferences for communication when receiving bad news: a randomized
controlled trial. Journal of clinical oncology.32(20). 2166-2172.
Gillis, A & et.al., (2014). Communication skills assessment in the final postgraduate years to
established practice: a systematic review. Postgraduate medical journal, postgradmedj-2014.
Liberman & et.al., (2017). Exposure to multiple languages enhances communication skills in
infancy. Developmental science.20(1).
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