Part 1
Patient safety, ethical stand and patient centered care is more concerned with healthcare givers providing patients which they deem harmless and also takes into account their wellbeing both emotionally and physically. Effective communication is the key tool that can be used to address the problem of undesirable patient outcomes since it has been established that a reduction in stress and anxiety is usually brought about by patients complying with their medication and also being involved in a proactive form of effective communication. In addition to reduced stress levels, it is also crucial to note that effective communication boosts the psychological functioning of a patient, boots the levels of self esteem, symptom resolution, improved care coordination, proper self management and in general reduced sty in hospital (Levett-Jones, 2014, pp. 1-111). Such efforts have been established as the boosters to patient satisfaction and well being in addition to improved well being of the patient. On the contrary though, in situations whereby effective communication has not been given the required consideration, the possibilities of undesirable outcomes being realized from such situations are high. Ineffective communication in the hospitalization process has been established as a possible cause of anger in patients, misunderstandings, increased risks of errors to the patients which may lead to harm and lack of conviction between the care giver and the patient (Hemsley et al., 2012, pp.116-126) . Moreover, the possibilities of the ethical stands of the patient not being respected are likely to be high in the event that valid consent is not obtained before particular procedures or when the confidentiality of the client is not upheld.
The key tenets towards having a communication process that is patient centered and also therapeutic is based on the fact that there is the need for genuineness, empathy, self awareness, mindfulness, zero judgmental stances, zero assumptions and biases, validation and therapeutic presence of the care providers (Levett-Jones, 2014, pp. 1-111). The movie WITS by Mike Nichols is a clear representation of how both effective and ineffective communication play a major role in the hospitalization process of a patient. The lead actor Vivian who is diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer has to undergo a chemotherapy session which is aimed at reducing the severity of this condition. The lead physician Dr. Harvey at the beginning of the movie informs the Vivian who is a professor ab0urt her condition but fails to live to the expectations of therapeutic treatments. Dr Harvey informs Professor Vivian that the chemotherapy treatment session is going to be a vigorous and an aggressive one and whose side effects will serve as the basis of a study that they are currently conducting concerning this type of cancer. Such a statement betrays the gains that therapeutic communication has on ensuring that the ethical stands of the patient have been accorded the required attention (Danay, 2013, p. 1). Such insensitivity is a clear indication that the care providers in the hospital have betrayed the empathy and mindfulness attributes to therapeutic care type of communication. It is evidently clear that the medical team has failed to empathize with Professor Vivian since they haven’t been able to have an understanding of she will feel based on the fact that her treatment process is focused on research purposes. Such n utterance is likely to affect the esteem of the patient; a situation that will eventually lead to patient dissatisfaction (Barry, and Edgman-Levitan, 2012, pp. 780-781). The way Dr. Harvey relayed this information to professor Vivian also shows that the concept of mindfulness has not been adhered to since little attention is paid on her health and well being but only on the intended research that is supposed to be carried out by the clinicians.
Another instance of ineffective communication in the movie is depicted whereby young Dr. Jason Posner is clearly deficient in the required bedside manners. Such is his insensitive nature to patients that he is fond of asking Professor Vivian “how are you feeling today (Danay, 2013, p. 1)?” Vivian finds such a greeting as plainly emotionless and has got zero effects towards her achieving any meaningful recovery from the disease that she is under therapy for. Dr. Jason’s only main area of interest is on studying the complex cellular systems of ovarian cancer but not the emotions of his patient. He views patients as being annoying and messy towards him achieving his objective of cancer research (Danay, 2013, p. 1). In this direction, therefore, the process of effective therapeutic communication has been compromised in the sense that the validation process of care has not been given the required attention. By Dr. Jason viewing patients as annoying, it shows that he is already being judgmental about the state of his patients. A situation like this is a probable reason for patients not having the full benefits of the treatment process as their well-being and feelings have not been taken into consideration. Moreover, the treatment that patients are receiving can be said as not genuine; a factor that pulls back the gains of effective communication (Kalaitzidis and Schmitz, 2012, pp.111-115). As such, the possibilities of patients not being satisfied are high in addition to their ethical stands not being given the required attention.
An instance of effective therapeutic communication care, however, is when Nurse Susie; who is in charge of taking care of Vivian informs her of the available options in the event that her heart stops beating. Such an instance depicts a situation whereby this care provider aims at upholding human decency by being empathetic to Vivian; a situation that brings her into conflict with the doctors carrying out the chemotherapy session. By Nurse Susie having little knowledge about the cancer treatment process but still being able to fully immerse herself in providing small acts of kindness like rubbing lotion on Vivian’s hands shows that her actions are genuine since she tries as much as she can have a deep understanding of the thoughts and the feelings of Vivian (Danay, 2013, p. 1). Such efforts are aimed at motivating her patient into having an easy time accepting her condition even though she died at the end of the treatment process. Furthermore, Susie’s presence at Vivian’s bedside is therapeutic enough since she is able to immerse fully into the feelings of her patient; a situation which makes their communications beneficial (Steven et al., 2014, pp. 277- 284). It is, therefore, imperative to note that these efforts are likely to lead to improved patient safety and outcomes since the care being given is centered on the patient.
Part 2
I have however noted that I harbor several gaps in as far as effective patient communication is concerned. Lack of empathy is one of the major challenges that affect my practice in addition to being judgmental of the patients that I am usually presented with. As such, I will put into use efforts that will be directed at addressing these discrepancies in my care provision process. I am planning to attend seminars and workshops aimed at addressing the therapeutic communication capabilities of healthcare providers in order to build my empathy and judgmental stance levels. Additionally, I will be involved in more public and community health programs to have a better understanding of how to deal with patients presented with different healthcare problems. Finally, spending more time with patients at the bedside will serve as a base through which it will be easier to understand the needs of patients thereby improving my skills in providing the care that is patient-centered, safe and ethical to them.
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