Nursing is an interesting profession. It is a job that demands not only technical savvy but empathetic awareness of patients’ feelings and the expertise to form instant and trusting relationships. As a nursing student going through orientation for my summer intern job that started last week, the hospital communication liaison specifically discussed some pointers on how to build instant patient rapport. Things like washing your hands in front of the patient, or introducing yourself using your full name and position, are said to help boost a patient’s confidence in you and your ability to deliver excellent care. During my first shift on the labor and delivery floor, however, my patient taught me her own unique relationship builder.
My relationship started with the patient when she came into the hospital around noon time with her husband to deliver their first child. I was in and out of her room as her labor progressed, and around five o’clock that evening, the time came for her to start pushing. As I helped to put her legs up into stirrups, she remarked, “Just so you know, I’m not going to have a bowel movement when I push. My friend said it could happen, but there’s no way I’m going to. It’s disgusting.” Despite the patient’s fears, she had a bowel movement with the first push (a fairly normal and welcome occurrence – nurses actually look for this as a sign of effective pushing). If the look on her husband’s face didn’t give it away, the patient picked up on the situation quickly. “Eww! That smell – did I poop?! Oh my god, I’m so embarrassed.” Remaining calm and composed, I explained that the event is perfectly normal. After about another half hour of pushing, catching her breath in between contractions, the patient remarked, “You know, I’m really glad we got that pooping thing over with early. It’s made this much more enjoyable. I mean, we’re like best friends now.”
July 22, 2008 at 3:45 am |
Wow that’s a good story, its nice to see how poop can break the ice into friendship. I can understand your line of work and I admire you for that. I work as a patient care technician and emergency medical technician. The closest I have ever made a friend with a patient is when I helped a mom going into anaphylactic shock, she tried to set up a date with her daughter. It’s also good to hear about how other people enjoy South Africa.
July 22, 2008 at 10:31 am |
I had a fun while reading your post. This story is something that I could never have experienced for myself unless I go hospital for my own delivery. You have described the scene so well that I almost pictured it in my head while reading it. I think you did a good job on “boosting the patient’s confidence” by explaining how the event was normal.
July 26, 2008 at 2:30 am |
Hi Delivermesummer,
I am glad that the baby, who was having low fetal heart rate was low, is safe now. I feel bad how you and the mother of baby had to go through a difficult delivery process. I wish every mothers have good conditions that they won’t have any problems with their deliveries. I think the delivery itself is already difficult, so that there is no need for mothers to suffer from unexpected problems while their deliveries. I guess I made you little confused about my last comment by saying that “This story is something that I could never have experienced for myself unless I go hospital for my own delivery”. I meant to say that I will experience the delivery room when I will have to go for my delivery in the future and I have not had experienced yet. I am sorry for this confusion. I often make people to get confused by saying unclear English. It is always amazing to listen to your stories and I appreciate you for being one of the people that make these miracles.
July 26, 2008 at 3:38 am |
Did you take the EMT class at Umass? Because I was a TA for that class for the passed two years. I asked this because perhaps you were a student of mine
August 20, 2008 at 10:22 am |
After reading the competing theories of interpersonal communication I was drawn to the theory of discourse. Discourse allows us to have and create conversations, arguments, and speeches. During these conversations, arguments, and speeches our openness gives us the opportunity to develop relationships. “I think having open-minded is important in any conversations, and the process of building relationship can be affected by it. The more you open to your listeners, there are better chance for you to create close relationship with them,” stated Ooloveshoo.
In developing our identity it is helpful to be honest in disclosing information, but in human nature we tend to protect ourselves from certain situations. “Openness is a tricky thing – when do we use it, how much do we use of it, to whom, how? So on and so forth. By reading this group’s presentation it is clear that often times people withhold how open and self-disclosed they are through fear of being judged, dislike, ostracized. They explained how John Robinson experienced all of these things simply because he spoke what was on his mind, some people call this not having a filter, others call it being real, stated commsyr09 ( http://jimigarcia27.wordpress.com/).
In most instance I feel self disclosure can be a benefit to building relationships and our personal identity. It stirs conversations and sometimes arguments that can help us learn about others and ourselves. “Being open with and to other people” “explains how the self-disclosure can be used to enhance the relationships between the people”. The way openness is being described here shows us how it can create an opportunity to have a real “fierce” conversation. After all when you are open when you self disclose you are being authentic, hence the “fierce” conversation. Both team two and team four have illustrated how being open with other people, while at the same time helping explain why self disclosure could be helpful when communicating with others. These teams have also helped portray alternate ways to create an opportunity for an authentic conversation.
http://ohnothecakeisalie.wordpress.com/2008/08/