CNA150 Report: Communication Analysis of the Film WIT - Healthcare

This report analyzes communication dynamics in the film "WIT," focusing on effective and ineffective communication examples within a healthcare setting. The introduction emphasizes the critical role of communication in nursing, highlighting its impact on patient care and relationships. The report provides a detailed examination of specific scenes, such as interactions between Dr. Kelekian and Professor Bearing, and Nurse Susie Monahan and Bearing. The analysis explores concerns about these communication examples, including the lack of teamwork and potential for miscommunication. The report also identifies gaps in the author's skills, such as making close relationships with the patients and leadership skills, and proposes a personal and professional development plan to address these weaknesses. This includes adopting new approaches, learning from senior managers, and improving teamwork skills. The conclusion reinforces the importance of effective communication in nursing and patient safety, drawing on the examples from the film to illustrate key points. The report also includes references to support its arguments.

Communication Assignment

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Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................1
Examples of effective and ineffective communication..............................................................1
Concerns about these communication examples........................................................................2
Gaps in knowledge or skills and plan for improving on it.........................................................3
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................6

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INTRODUCTION
Communication plays a greater role in the successfully completing the job roles (Tan, Zhou
& Kelly, 2017). In nursing communication helps in making better relationship between
medical staffs and patients and hence providing with them with better care needs. There are
various parameters that suggest that any conversation is ineffective or effective (Smeulers,
Lucas & Vermeulen, 2014). It is essential that nursing staffs must be an able communicator.
This report will highlight different examples from the movie ‘WIT’ that explains the criteria
for effective and ineffective communication and the way in which these examples reflect
quality, safety and excellence in communication. In last part of the report a plan for
enhancing my personal skills has been provided so as to identify any gaps in your knowledge
or skills.
Examples of effective and ineffective communication
Examples of ineffective communication:
In the first scene of the movie the communication between the head doctor Dr. Kelekian and
Professor Vivian Bearing is an example of ineffective communication. The reason that makes
it an ineffective communication is that they both were using the words that were either not
understood by others or has different meanings in their area of profession. There was no
sympathy or feelings from the side of Dr. Kelekian, he just was too much professional which
is not understood to be good in the nursing industry for making a better relation with the
patients. They both were fast and in a hurry to reach to a conclusion that makes the
conversation to be worse. The conversation was too much formal (Ozcakir & Bilgel, 2014).
The conversation between Vivian Bearing and her mentor Evelyn Ashford was an ineffective
communication where she explains her use of punctuation. This was an effective
communication from the side of Vivian Bearing as she was listening to her senior carefully
but her senior did not listened her or she did not even tried to know what Vivian was going
through. It was just one way communication which is never effective (Weis, Zoffmann &
Egerod, 2014).
The communication between Dr. Jason Posner and Nurse Susie Monahan when they were
treating Bearing was also ineffective as both were not on the common platform. They have a

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very different perspective about the treatment. They both especially Posner have lots of
prejudices that did not allowed them to have meaningful conversation.
The communication among the medical staffs when Jason made a mistake about judging
Bearings health condition was most ineffective way of doing communication. They were not
listening to each other and in too much hurry. They did not respect each other in that
communication as everyone was busy in showing their priority. This was one of the most
inappropriate ways of doing communication in case of medical emergency (Robinson,
Gorman, Slimmer & Yudkowsky, 2010). It was seen that there was serious lack of teamwork
among the staffs at different levels.
Example of effective communication:
The first conversation between Dr. Jason Posner and Vivian Bearing was an effective
communication where Dr. Jason Posner tried to make a bond with patient by understanding
her mental state. The conversation was not too much formal neither too much informal.
The first communication between Nurse Susie Monahan and Bearing was effective. This is
because she was the only one who tried to understand the situation of the Bearing and tried to
help her in each of her situation. They were able to express themselves easily in front of each
other which is necessary in health care practices (Lyndon, Zlatnik & Wachter, 2011).
Another example of effective communication was when Dr. Jason Posner was explaining
about cancer to Bearing as in this communication they are able to understand each other. At
the same time communication was ineffective from the side of Jason as it lacked humanity
and choice of words was putting bearing in more pain.
The communication between Susie and Bearing when Bearing was crying was also
understood to be effective as she understood her situation and used words that could make
her happy. They both were using gestures that build faith in each other. Bearing started
feeling comfortable as she was providing the best care and was trying to comfort her with her
words (Davis Boykins, 2014). The biggest barrier that was seen between Bearing and any
other medical staffs was lack of understanding which was not present in this case.
The communication between Bearing and mentor Evelyn Ashford when the later comes to
visit her at hospital was effective as there was warmth in the communication. The behavior of

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her mentor was giving feeling of comfort to Vivian Bearing which was necessary as she was
feeling alone in the hospital (Matzke, Houston, Fischer & Bradshaw, 2014).
Concerns about these communication examples
In the health care industry, communication plays a very important role in patient’s safety and
properly delivering health care services. An effective communication ensures that better
teamwork will be used in patient’s care. This is very much necessary for making sure that
high quality health care service is provided to the patients (Curtis, Tzannes & Rudge, 2011).
At the same time, it also ensures the safety of patients as everyone will be doing their job in
coordination.
The communication between Bearing and Dr. Kelekian was too much professional and it
does not allow making a healthy relationship with patients. This is not good when a person is
facing such a deadly diseases as it might scare them. This is not good when a person is
fighting such a deadly disease (Tang, Chan, Zhou & Liaw, 2013). The way Dr. Jason was
treating Vivian was totally not good as it lacked communicational safety. Jason was not able
to decide whether he had to treat in a formal way or be informal to understand the problems
of Bearing.
It was also seen in the examples that medical staffs were not communication with each other
in a proper way about the health conditions of Bearing. They all were too busy in playing
their own roles rather than working as a team to improve the services provided to Vivian. It
was the lack of communication between staffs that Jason did not knew that Vivian was no
cold. He believed on his instincts and was not listening to Nurse Susie. Due to this
miscommunication and way emergency staffs neglected the words of Susie, Vivian life was
under serious threat (Vertino, 2014).
Gaps in knowledge or skills and plan for improving on it
By analyzing the movie and my own skills, I found that there were different types of gaps in
my skills also. The first gap was in my communicational skills where I found that I was
unable to make close relation with the patients. This has reduced my service delivery
standards. I also found that there was gap in my knowledge regarding different situation and
hence there was lack in the leadership skills especially regarding making effective decisions.
I also lack skills such as working efficiently in a team. This is not good for my future as both

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the things have higher importance in the nursing industry. A personal and professional
development plan or action plan is required in this regards. Gaps in my skills and knowledge
can be seen through the table below.
S.N
O
Skills and knowledge Score Score
by
Seniors
Differences
1. Skills of facing emergency situations 7 9 -2
2. Team formation and management 7 8 -1
3. My efficiency and effectiveness 7 5 2
4. Quality standards 8 9 -1
5. Effective team player 8 9 -1
6. Leadership skills 8 9 -1
Positive values show strengths while negative values show the weaknesses of mine. For
removing the weakness, action plan for it is as follows:
S.n
o
Learnin
g
objectiv
e
Current
skill
The way
in which I
can
achieve
developm
ent
Chances
of
developm
ent
Criteria
for
judging
success
Time
scale
Evidence
1. Skills
for
dealing
in
emergen
cy
At
present,
approach
es that are
used for
this
Adopting
new
methods
and
technique
such as
Guidance
by senior
managers
Taking
use of
performa
nce report
5-6
mont
hs
Senior
manageme
nt’s
judgement

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situation
s
purpose is
ineffectiv
e
learning
from the
manuals
that are
provided
in this
regards.
Also need
to learn
from the
best
practices
which can
be known
from the
online
sources.
2. Leaders
hip
skills
Right
now my
skills lags
industry
standards
It is
crucial
that adopt
learning
habits. In
this my
own
senior
leaders
can help
me as I
can learn
from
them.
Training
from
seniors
and
learning
through
online
mediums
can be
effective.
Analysis
reports
from
seniors
4
week
s
Report
from top
manageme
nt
3. Effectiv
e team
Right
now I lag
I need to
be part of
Virtual
training
Judgeme
nt by
5
mont
Analysis
report by

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player team
managem
ent skills
more
numbers
teams that
monitors
any
patients. I
can take
the help of
mock
drills
where
how to
work in a
team in
both
emergenc
y and
normal
situation
can be
done.
and help
of
colleagues
can be
helpful.
team
mates can
be
effective
hs team
members
and other
co-workers
CONCLUSION
From the above based report, it can be concluded that communication plays a very important
role in the nursing industry. Film ‘WIT’ illustrates many examples where communication
between patients and different staffs were either effective or non-effective. Film illustrates
that for ensuring patient’s safety and improving the standards of nursing practices it is
essential that a better communicational methodology is used within the organization.

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REFERENCES
Curtis, K., Tzannes, A. and Rudge, T. (2011) How to talk to doctors–a guide for effective
communication. International nursing review, 58(1), 13-20.
Davis Boykins, A. (2014) Core communication competencies in patient-centered care. ABNF
Journal, 25(2).
Lyndon, A., Zlatnik, M. G. and Wachter, R. M. (2011) Effective physician-nurse
communication: a patient safety essential for labor and delivery. American journal of
obstetrics and gynecology, 205(2), 91-96.
Matzke, B., Houston, S., Fischer, U. and Bradshaw, M. J. (2014) Using a team‐centered
approach to evaluate effectiveness of nurse–physician communications. Journal of Obstetric,
Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing, 43(6), 684-694.
Ozcakir, A. and Bilgel, N. (2014) Educating medical students about the personal meaning of
terminal illness using the film,“Wit”. Journal of palliative medicine, 17(8), 913-917.
Robinson, F. P., Gorman, G., Slimmer, L. W. and Yudkowsky, R. (2010, July) Perceptions of
effective and ineffective nurse–physician communication in hospitals. In Nursing forum (Vol.
45, No. 3, pp. 206-216). Malden, USA: Blackwell Publishing Inc.
Smeulers, M., Lucas, C. and Vermeulen, H. (2014) Effectiveness of different nursing
handover styles for ensuring continuity of information in hospitalised patients. Cochrane
Database of Systematic Reviews, (6).
Tan, T. C., Zhou, H. and Kelly, M. (2017) Nurse–physician communication–An integrated
review. Journal of clinical nursing, 26(23-24), 3974-3989.
Tang, C. J., Chan, S. W., Zhou, W. T. and Liaw, S. Y. (2013) Collaboration between hospital
physicians and nurses: an integrated literature review. International nursing review, 60(3),
291-302.
Vertino, K. A. (2014). Effective interpersonal communication: A practical guide to improve
your life. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 19(3), 1-6.
Weis, J., Zoffmann, V. and Egerod, I. (2014) Improved nurse–parent communication in
neonatal intensive care unit: evaluation and adjustment of an implementation
strategy. Journal of clinical nursing, 23(23-24), 3478-3489.

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