Analysis of Communication Difficulties in Healthcare Scenarios

This report delves into the communication difficulties encountered in healthcare settings, presenting two distinct case studies. The first case focuses on a patient with Parkinson's disease, exploring the communication challenges arising from motor deficits, comprehension issues, and emotional recognition difficulties. The report discusses therapeutic communication strategies, including setting the stage for effective interaction, using clear and concise language, and employing non-verbal cues. The second case examines a patient of Italian descent facing language barriers, highlighting the impact on therapeutic relationships and ethical considerations. The report proposes solutions such as interpreter allocation, empathetic communication, informed decision-making, and the LEARN strategy for cross-cultural communication. The report emphasizes the importance of adapting communication techniques to address specific patient needs and cultural contexts to ensure effective and ethical healthcare delivery. References are provided for further reading.

Running head: COMMUNICATION DIFFICULTIES IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS
COMMUNICATION DIFFICULTIES IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS
Name of the student:
Name of the interview:
Author note:

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COMMUNICATION DIFFICULTIES IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS
Part A:
Question 1:
Parkinson’s disease is mainly associated with different types of motor deficits that make
patients difficult to conduct activities of daily life smoothly and results in poor quality life.
Recent researchers are of the opinion that patients who are suffering from the disorder also is
plagued by difficulties in clearly communicating with other about their feelings. Comprehension
is the main aspect of the domain of communication that gets impaired during this time along
with many other issues of communication (Eriksson et al., 2016). Syntactic comprehension is
mainly helpful as it allows people in extraction of meaning from different sentences by the
procedure of combining words and rejecting any form of unlikely word arrangements. However,
patients with Parkinson have issues with this form of language processing that result in reduction
of the overall understanding of the conversation. Another issue that is also prevalent in the
disorder is that the patients lose the ability of emotional recognition as a part of both verbal and
non-verbal communication procedures (Shin & Haberman, 2017). This is highly important as it
allows the listener to interpret the actual meaning of the sentence. However, such patients are not
able have difficulties in expressing their emotions with proper facial expressions as well as with
speech prosody which affects the conveying of the emotional context of the language. In case of
Mr., wheeler also, it was noted that he had a stiff face and his speech was quiet and mumbled
that might create difficulty for healthcare workers to understand what he want to express or
wants as requirements and needs. Another issue that the patients also face is the use of pauses
that are often prolonged and inappropriately timed. Therapeutic communication is to be ensured
by the healthcare professionals as such communication strategies help in supporting the patient’s
feeling of well being. Such communication techniques would help the patient to feed cared and

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understood by the professionals. It also helps in the establishment of the effective relationship
where the patient would feel free to express his concerns. With effective communication, the
professionals would be able to undertake techniques that would help in the prioritization of
physical, mental as well as emotional well being of Mr.Wheeler.
Activity 2:
 The first stage of communication would be setting the atge where the nursing
professionals will try to remove any distractions like turning off television, radio or
inhibit any form of multitasking so that they can focus on the patient Mr. wheeler. Then
they should try to get the person’s attention by slowly approaching him and facing the
person. They should gently touch a hand or arm of the patient and then waiting until He
becomes ready to listen (Willows et al., 2017). Making eye contact is very important as
this makes the patient feel that the professionals are attentive and careful about his health.
 The professionals should speak slowly and clearly to the patient like an adult only. They
should use simple and short sentences so that the patient does not have any issues in
cognitive processing of the sentences that would prevent them from getting confused.
Implied messages should be minimized to a point that should be clearly stated. Humor
should be avoided as the patient might misunderstand it and the professionals will not be
able to capture any emotions.
 Closed questions should be mainly preferred which would make the patient reply in one
words like yes, no, maybe, and others. This would create less pressure on them while
narrating out entire sentences after collecting words and putting together. Sometimes
misplacing of words might result in other meanings and therefore open-ended questions
should be lessened (Martin, 2016).

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COMMUNICATION DIFFICULTIES IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS
 The professionals should pay attention to the patient with Parkinson as facial expression
and body language can get impaired. The professionals should watch Mr. wheeler closely
so that they can respond to his moods and emotions particularly if what he is saying is not
audible or is difficult to be understood by them. If the professional is not sure, they
should ask the patient clearly, about how he is feeling.
 Another important clearly would be to use actions and gestures as well as words. If the
professional want to take Mr. Wheeler out for a walk, they can pint to the door or take his
coat to him to illustrate what they mean. While using actions and gestures, the
professionals should also ensure that, they are using words to maintain clarity to the
patient.
Part B:
Activity 1:
Mrs.Bortoli is of Italian descent and she faces huge problem in communicating in English.
Therefore, this language barrier might create problems in effective communication where the
healthcare professionals may not understand what the patients want to express or may not make
it possible for the professionals to make the patient understand what they are trying to state. This
barrier can affect the development of therapeutic relationship with the patient for which she
might not develop a bond with the professionals. Moreover, an ethical dilemma will also rise
here (Mikkonen et al., 2016). The code of ethics for enrolled nurses has produced a value
statement 5 that dictates professionals to make informed decision-making. However, the family
members of the patients are not allowing professionals to reveal the fact when the patient has the
right to know her own disorder. Moreover, if the nurses do not reveal the information to the

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COMMUNICATION DIFFICULTIES IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS
patient, they would not be able to make informed decision making for mastectomy of the right
side. Therefore, it is the duty of the nurses to reveal the disorder of the patient entirely and then
discuss the interventions telling her about both the positive and negative aspects. Only after the
patient’s approval, the nurse should proceed with the surgery. An interpreter would be allocated
for making the process easier and successful (VanRosse et al., 2016). They would discuss about
breast cancer in her and how mastectomy is still considered one of the best action where entire
breast, chest wall, and another axillary lymph nodes need to be removed as apart of intervention.
Activity 2:
 One of the best strategy to overcome language barrier is to allocate interpreters who
would be helping to make the patient understand about her disorders
 The patient may find it as a shock as she was not told about her disorders. Therefore
therapeutic communication with the patient should be established where communication
would be conducted with compassion and empathy so that the patient feels that the
professionals are genuinely interested in her health (Meuter et al., 2015)
 The informed decision-making that would be conducted with the patient should ensure
that the patient has well understood the pros and cons of the surgery. The professionals
should ensure this by asking her questions to understand that she had understood or not
about the procedures following which further classifications need to be done. This would
help me to maintain the codes of ethics as well.
 The LEARN strategy for cross-cultural communication can be also ensured. This would
mainly include LEARN which are the acronyms for, Listening effectively to the patient,
Effectively communicating with her, Avoiding any form of ambiguity, Respecting their
differences and No judgments (Wagner et al., 2015).

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COMMUNICATION DIFFICULTIES IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS
 Non verbal communication skills should be exhibited in a culturally competent manner
where the cultural traditions, preferences and inhibitions followed by the Italians should
be ensured by the nursing professionals while communicating with the patient.

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References:
Eriksson, K., Forsgren, E., Hartelius, L., & Saldert, C. (2016). Communication partner training
of enrolled nurses working in nursing homes with people with communication disorders
caused by stroke or Parkinson’s disease. Disability and rehabilitation, 38(12), 1187-
1203.
Martin, S. C. (2016). Relational issues within couples coping with Parkinson’s disease:
Implications and ideas for family-focused care. Journal of family nursing, 22(2), 224-
251.
Meuter, R. F., Gallois, C., Segalowitz, N. S., Ryder, A. G., & Hocking, J. (2015). Overcoming
language barriers in healthcare: A protocol for investigating safe and effective
communication when patients or clinicians use a second language. BMC health services
research, 15(1), 371.
Mikkonen, K., Elo, S., Kuivila, H. M., Tuomikoski, A. M., & Kääriäinen, M. (2016). Culturally
and linguistically diverse healthcare students’ experiences of learning in a clinical
environment: a systematic review of qualitative studies. International journal of nursing
studies, 54, 173-187.
Shin, J. Y., & Habermann, B. (2017). Nursing Research in Parkinson’s Disease From 2006 to
2015: A systematic review. Clinical nursing
van Rosse, F., de Bruijne, M., Suurmond, J., Essink-Bot, M. L., & Wagner, C. (2016). Language
barriers and patient safety risks in hospital care. A mixed methods study. International
journal of nursing studies, 54, 45-53.

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Wagner, L. M., Brush, B. L., Castle, N. G., Eaton, M., & Capezuti, E. (2015). Examining
differences in nurses' language, accent, and comprehensibility in nursing home settings
based on birth origin and country of education. Geriatric Nursing, 36(1), 47-51.
Willows, T., Dizdar, N., Nyholm, D., Widner, H., Grenholm, P., Schmiauke, U., ... & Kjellander,
S. (2017). Initiation of Levodopa-Carbidopa Intestinal Gel Infusion Using Telemedicine
(Video Communication System) Facilitates Efficient and Well-Accepted Home Titration
in Patients with Advanced Parkinson’s Disease. Journal of Parkinson's disease, 7(4),
719-728.