Reflective Essay on Communication

I am a health conduct assistant (HCA) on an elderly reverence surgical ward and we nurse many different perseverings who pose had elected surgery and corrective surgery after a trauma. I have a lot of contact with diligents who suffer with dementia, ongoing confusion pay fitting to urinary tract infections and can often display challenging and predatory behavior.I have effect on a daily basis that patients change state can frustrated when they can non communicate what they deprivation, and I was sure that with my strong tension I would come across as harsh. This left me feeling worried and some clock times inadequate beca persona it is in my job and own(prenominal) nature to want to sponsor those in my bring off. As part of my Personal Assessment schedule (PAD) my mentor and I decided that I would I would push myself to let loose with patients more and see how they reacted to me. I would read the patients discolour This is me folder to try and engage them on a m ore personal level.With this reflective account I result be discussing an experience that I had on my ward and how through reflection I have managed to get in more confidence in my ability to talk to my patients and convey my lenience in the way I communicate with the patients in my cargon.I ordain physical exertion the reflective framework devised by Atkin and Murphy (1994) to construct this account. It is the right archetype of reflection for me to look back and learn from my experiences.Personally, being a full student and health carer does non just come with reflection in the mind save to a fault reflective practice which, according to the nursing standard enables a student to develop their skills, increase their knowledge and hatful with emotionally challenging situations (RCN 2012). Reflection is something that should be engaged with on an customary basis and from genuinely early on in your health care career. It enables you to carry on caring about the patients y ou treat and how to improve yourself in person and master copyly.I enjoy both the personal rewards and the challenges that go blow over in hand with works with patients with dementia. I find that on the drive home I t can re-evaluate everything in my life and be grateful for the now. A patient whom will go by the pseudonym of Polly to maintain her confidentiality (The NMC Code of professional Conduct, 2004) was admitted to the ward with a fracture to the neck of her femur.I was advised that the patient was very confused, and would natural language at staff and be both physically and verbally aggressive when approached but would constantly shout out that she needed help. She was in the early to middle stages of Alzheimers disease and had come from a care home for those suffering with dementia. Alzheimers disease is characterised by the loss of succinct term memory, deterioration in both behaviour and intellectual execution of instrument and slowness of thought (Dictionary of N ursing 1998).In handover that morning I found that I would be working with her that day, and as she was post operative I would need to wash her and try to mobilise her to sit out in her chasten so that the physiotherapists could help her to walk again and get her on the parcel to being discharged back to her care home. I found that I was nervous in approaching this patient as I did not want to upset her or get hurt. Personally I would eternally wake patients like Polly who require the attention of more than one subdivision of staff last as it is better to leave the patient to stay so that they are well rested. That, and from handover I had learned that Polly had experienced a rather active night.Before waking Polly I had read her personal This is me purpleness file to find out if she had any preferred establishs, and how she liked to be spoken likewise. This is me was devised by the Alzheimers society and is intended to provide professionals with entropy about the person wit h dementia as an individual. This will enhance the care and support given while the person is in an unfamiliar milieu(Alzheimers society 2011). With this information I could help maintain a similar routine for Polly and I would not confuse her by overloading her with too many chiefs and instructions.I woke Polly up gently, and sat myself down in the chair by her bed so that I was not standing over her. I spent nearly thirty minutes with Polly getting her up and ready, the patient did not get upset or frustrated with me, andshe was able to do most of the washing and dressing herself with help from me. Once this was completed I pass on over to physiotherapists that they too should take this approach with Polly.I spent 12 days in total with Polly. In this time she was aggressive with me, and she would spit at me when I approached her. Yet, once I used her preferred name and tailored my approach to what she needed from me, I found that Polly was a winning and wonderful lady, who c ould be the complete opposite to the patient that was first handed over to me that first morning.Morris and Morris state that the symptoms of dementia are experienced by from each one person in their own unique way (2010) and this is reinforce by the publication of the this is me leaflet. It enables staff to really look at each individual patient and assess what their needs are. In reflection, if I had not read this leaflet and just gone ahead and woke Polly up as I do each patient, the events of the day could have taken a very different path. I found that by talking to Polly as requested in her leaflet that she reacted in a calmer manner and did not get as anxious or frustrated as readily as my colleagues had prepared me to think.Reflecting over my first day with Polly, I do not remember struggling to say my words more understandably than what I normally would have done. Polly was not deaf, nor was she a child and I kept it in my mind that this patient was still a shake lady wh o had broken a big part of her body and was in a large amount of pain. Furthermore, she might not be able to communicate this fact as clearly as someone without dementia.Hobson states that, the HCA will need to learn to adapt how they attempt to understand what the person is state to them and that this can only be achieved by entering the same humanness as the person with dementia (2012, P337). At times Polly would pretend to cry like a child and repeat the words Oh unsoundedmy, mum, mum. Oh Mummy but not be able to give an answer when questioned what was wrong and how could we help her. Taking this into consideration, Polly might not be actually inquireing for her Mum but actually trying to communicate a more than deeper need.My intellect of how patients with dementia communicate lead me to point to Pollys hip and shoot her if she felt pain there when she moved, to which she replied yes she did. In reflection I found this was a much better approach rather than just asking i f Polly wanted any pain relief. Elkins has stated that asking the patient with dementia a direct question is almost a waste of time, as the patient does not have the information to give you. Instead it is more beneficial for the patients sense of self worth to ask them a question with an optional answer of yes or no. It could also be said that a statement rather than a question is better because it leaves the patient feeling more in control (2011).From this experience, I suggested to the nurses that when doing their drug round that they should lower themselves down to Pollys eye level and ask her if her hip hurt her, rather than standing at the end of her bed or beside her asking if she wanted any pain relief. This implication meant that Polly had more regular pain relief, and as a team we knew when she was in pain.Furthermore, this information could be added to her file and become part of Pollys emerging care pathway. Elkins raised the very same argument that once an useful comm unication bridge had been achieved, the individual is much more like to proceed calm and anxiety let go of This would show that dialogue between patient and healthcare professional had been greatly improved and would continue to do so in the future (2011).In reflection, I have found that I was so focused on the need to be understood through my use of English that at times I under-estimated the importance of non-verbal communication. Now, having taken a step back I see that I am almost in the same boat as the patient suffering with dementia, we are both just an individual attempting to communicate (Hobson, 2012) and as a HCA the system of employing feelings and emotions should become more significant than the spoken word (Hobson, 2012).Although my confidence in speaking to patients is always growing, I am more appreciative of how much more effective my body language, and the tone of my voice can be when communicating with a patient with dementia. Yes, looking after these patients can be a challenge but getting past the dementia and working in ways that compliment the patients mindset will be of morebenefit to the patient. By spending some time reading each patients information leaflet I am able to help maintain a patients well being and create a more anxiety free environment for our patients.