Day 9 (also late >.<)

So Week 2 is almost over (well, it is as I'm writing this, but you get what I mean).  Today was professional communication once again.  We were supposed to chart today, but didn't quite get there.  Today was focused on learning about the people in our clinical groups, as we are going to spend quite a bit of time with them.  So, we had to all sit together and find three things we had in common with the entire group (we came up with all of us had our ears pierced, none of us were only children, and none of us had our own children) as well as one thing that each of had that was unique from the rest of the group.  I made the mistake of admitting I used to do musical theater, which came back to bite me later when the professor needed some "actors" to act out some scenarios.  Not that I'm afraid of getting up in front of the class; it's just that I unintentionally volunteered myself. That probably doesn't make sense.  Oh well, it was still fun.  I got to be the evil nurse who didn't therapeutically speak to the patient's family.  Bwahaha!!

That was actually the topic of the day--therapeutic communication.  Basically, this is just being sensitive to clients (patients, family, etc.) and their needs and communicating with kindness, consideration, and in layman's terms (which also reflects kindness).  Beyond the medical skills, being able to communicate effectively with the clients is the most important skill a nurse has.  When I think of the times my family have been in the hospital, it has always been the nurses who can make or break an experience.  And it's more than just verbal communication; there is also nonverbal communication that adds into this.  Body language speaks very loudly and clearly if someone really means what they say; if someone says they have time to talk but are looking at their watch, chances are they aren't very believable.

And, in order to further reinforce this, the professors had us watch some very old, very outdated movies about therapeutic communication.  The running joke for probably the rest of the term (and perhaps the rest of the year?) is one of the general leads shown in this 20+-year-old video.  The patient was distressed, and the nurse asked her a broad opening question, which lets the patient set the direction of the conversation--"You seem to be upset; is there anything wrong?".  The patient started talking about what was bugging her, then paused.  The nurse then did one of the general leads, "Oh?".  With the pauses and facial expressions, it felt ridiculous and fake, but made for some good laughs in the class.  "Oh?" has been used a few times in class since, which makes me think it will be around for a while.

So, just remember, if you want to encourage someone to continue, you can say "Oh?," "Yes?," or "Hmm".