Question

Describe a situation you have encountered in your professional nursing practice that involved communication challenges related to generational or cultural differences. What factors resulted in barriers to communication? How was the situation resolved? What was the outcome? delete backs

Answer 1

Communication

The concept or state of exchanging data or information between two entities.

Situation encountered:

Dealing with a patient who is significantly different in culture( A Hindu ,old woman from India came to visit their children in US, admitted with the asthmatic attack)

1. barriers of communication

There are many barriers of communication such as physical barriers( noise, closed rooms), physiological barriers( deafness, blindness, pain), emotional barriers( anger, fear), social barriers( language, culture, religion, attitude, social class) and technical barriers.

Communication barriers in dealing with the patient( hindu, old woman from India)

1. Language: it is one of the main barrier in communication. She knows a very little English and the slang also was different.

2. hearing loss: she had a moderate degree of hearing loss.( she is using a hearing aid, but forgot to bring it the hospital)

3. pain: chest pain related to asthma also acted as a barrier to communication

4. culture and religious belief : She was a vegetarian and the prayer also was different( idol worship ) . There was difficulty in planning the diet. Shyness and anxiety related to hospitalization and difficulty in facing English speaking medical team.

2. Resolution of situation

a) Language barrier: resolved by the use of a third person who knows English and Hindi, a translator. Try to understand her slang and tried to neutralize nurse's accent.

b) hearing loss: Informed family members to take and come the hearing aids, that was using by the patient. face to face communication made the patient to understand what is speaking by the nurse.

c) Pain and breathing difficulty: Medications relieved her pain and breathing difficulty.

d) Difference in culture and religion: Respected the patient as she is. Allowed her to do the religious practices( morning prayer, idol worship, called'pooja' in her room. Involved patient and family members in planning the diet( vegetarian). Gave a Warm welcome with smiling face by the nurses in the unit and established an interpersonal relationship with the client.

3. Outcome: The outcome was very good. She adjusted with the hospital environment very fastly and had a rapport with the health team, followed the instructions and the family members also was very happy with the nursing care provided without any communication gap.