Essay Sample on Communication Between the Nurse Practitioner and the Family

The nurse practitioner is very straightforward in her way of communication. It is crystal clear that she does not know how to break bad news. After listening to Miguel's lungs, hearing some wheezing and noticing rapid breathing, she tells them to take him to the emergency room. This information frightens Raquel. On her side, Raquel concludes that Miguel picked something from the daycare. She finally bursts into tears and start blaming the day care. She also blames herself for taking him to the day care .Here, Raquel has jumped into a conclusion of where Miguel might have acquired the illness. However, the nurse practitioner recommended following up Miguels treatment in hospital showing much concern for his health and well-being of the family.

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Communication between the triage nurse/ED and the family

The triage nurse seems more efficient with her mode of communication with the family. Although she bombers them with medical terms, she puts them in a polite manner. In a way, she knows how to ease tension for panicked family members and relatives. She also takes a good history of the presenting patient. The triage nurse also creates privacy for the patient by drawing the curtains. The nurse asks whether she can provide anything for the family such as a plastic toy car. She shows expertise in helping out the family ease up the tension.

The pediatric nurse and the family.

This pediatric nurse is experienced in dealing with patient and family issues. After taking some physical assessments on Miguel, the nurse explains clearly to the family the various tests that would be carried on the patient. He also goes further to ask the family whether they needed any clarification. All the nurses in the pediatric ward are eloquent and have mastered the skills of effective communication. One problem seems to arise; they use medical terms that the family is unable to understand because they dont have that particular replacement language. Terms like IV therapy are mostly well-understood by people in the medical field. Despite them having a negative side, they still follow up the patient. During the discharge for Miguel, Jonathan the nurse on duty gave his contacts information to Raquel just in case the patient fell ill again.

Examples of experiences in the workforce that indicate similar communication problems

Some patients or people with the patient are unfamiliar with medical terms. It is hard to explain certain conditions in laymans language since there are no replacements for them. The patient just agrees with whatever I am saying or want to do on him even if I might not be correct.

Family members are usually panicked and in high tension when they present a patient. It is sometimes really challenging to work under the pressures of the anxious relatives. This causes a few problems in the emergency room. Some relatives end up making their own suggestions that may not match up with the presenting illness.

Overall view of the case study

The nurses in this case study seem to be caring and efficient with their work. However, some of them have a problem in their communication skills. They do not appear to know how to break bad news. Usage of complex medical terms also seems to affect negatively their skills. In a summary, they are not confident with their communication skills.

References

Denham, S. E. (2015). Case Study on Communication. In Family-focused nursing care (pp. 97-475). Philadelphia, PA:: F.A. Davis Company.