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| Merideth Markum | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Communicating as a Professional | |||||||||||||||||||||
| April 8, 2002 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Communication:� An Essential Aspect of Nursing | |||||||||||||||||||||
| According to Patti Chesney, RN, communication is a "vital aspect of nursing.� It is not just talking and listening, but also understanding."� Mrs. Chesney has worked in several different settings, as a nurse.� Her nursing experience to date includes Riverside Hospital in Newport News, the Veteran's Hospital in Hampton, as an unofficial missionary nurse in two foreign countries, in an allergy and asthma specialist's office, and as a school nurse at Hampton Christian Schools.� In each of her career experiences, she has had to utilize and rely upon good communication skills to do her job effectively. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| While working in hospitals and within a specialist's office, the type of communication skills she used was much different than the ones she used while in foreign countries or in her current position as a school nurse.� As a hospital nurse, numerous doctors and nurses constantly surrounded Mrs. Chesney, so she had immediate access to ask questions and consult about patients.� However, in the school setting, she is alone since it is a single clinician staff position.� This means that she must rely upon communication on the phone with another nurse or with the student's parent, as well as through written notes from the student's teacher. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| For several years, Mrs. Chesney worked as a missionary alongside her husband and three daughters, in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.� While there she worked unofficially as a nurse, giving shots, immunizations, and IV's, as well as administering first aid for many needs, which include burns and machete gashes.� In Haiti, the people are extremely superstitious.� This made communication with them about simple health issues, such as the benefit of washing their hands in clean water or the need to boil drinking water, almost impossible.� The Haitian's did not believe the "white people" knew what they were talking about.� When speaking of the Dominion Republic, Mrs. Chesney said, "the terminology in Spanish is so different from English."� This made it difficult for her to communicate and meant she had to listen more intensely and could not just guess what the person might be trying to express. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Mrs. Chesney emphasized that in the medical profession guessing can get a nurse into a lot of trouble because it could mean the difference between life and death.� "The life of a patient is in your hands, so listening is vital," she said.� Knowing that my area of nursing interest is with children, Mrs. Chesney warned me that the pediatric ward in any hospital is one of the most stressful areas, because a nurse must constantly be aware of what is going on at all times, with an emphasis being placed upon listening very carefully to all instructions given.� When working with children, if a dosage of medicine is just a decimal point off, it could mean the loss of a patient from carelessness.� Oral communication is vitally important at all times. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Mrs. Chesney also noted that non-verbal communication is just as important as verbal.� Learning to be aware of each individual patient's needs by observing body language or physical changes is an essential part of nursing.� While working at Riverside, she had an interesting experience with a mute patient.� Since this female patient could not say what was wrong with her, she utilized gestures to communicate.� Relying heavily upon those gestures and the look of pain and fear in her eyes, Mrs. Chesney determined her need and found a doctor to help. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| According to Mrs. Chesney, "Job-related reading and research is a must and extremely important because if a nurse does not keep abreast medical advancements or changes, she will fall behind very quickly."� As a school nurse, it is helpful to use resources such as the internet and pamphlets, as well as talking with pharmacy representatives.� "Subscribing to the Nursing Journal helps one keep up with the constantly changing profession of nursing," according to Patti Chesney.� Working alone in the school clinic, Mrs. Chesney finds that she must rely strongly on her own personal knowledge and experience, so it is essential to read and to do independent studies.� To help meet the needs of elementary school children, she has done studies on allergies and is currently doing a study on Tylenol.� While telling about her upcoming move to Spain for her family to continue their missionary work, Mrs. Chesney mentioned that she would attempt to have her Tylenol study published if she were not leaving the country. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Being the first registered nurse to come on staff at the school, Mrs. Chesney has not only used her nursing knowledge to meet the needs of sick or injured students, she has become an author.� It is to her credit that she has developed good written communication skills, which go beyond just keeping charts on daily clinical procedures.� Being industrious and creative has enabled her to write a manual for emergency care procedures, as well as a safety committee booklet for the school.� | |||||||||||||||||||||
| While at Hampton Christian Schools, Mrs. Chesney has needed to make several oral presentations to the teaching faculty.� Since people learn in three different ways: oral, visual, through reading and writing, and through the hands-on process, she decided to address all these learning modes as she communicated to the school staff.� Utilizing Microsoft PowerPoint's visual presentation and its printed handouts, as she made her oral presentation, Mrs. Chesney found that she was able to convey her thoughts in an effective communication style.� Using a one-on-one oral and hands-on communication method, she has also taught the teachers to use an epee pin (a small needle and serum used for allergies), because there are multiple children in the school who have severe allergies and she might not always be able to get to them if an urgent reaction were to occur.� | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The Registered Nurse of today, apart from having personal qualities of compassion, strength, and understanding must be able to take responsibility for the management of a patient's nursing care, to deal with the complexities of medical technology, and work well alone or within a team. Good communication is an essential part of being a successful nurse.� One must be able to listen carefully, ask appropriate questions, pay attention to verbal and non-verbal communication, keep accurate written records, give and follow concise directions, as well as make oral and written presentations.� Caring for a patient's needs and good communication goes hand-in-hand with being an effective, successful, and caring nurse. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Works Cited | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Chesney, Patti.� Personal Interview.� 05 April 2002. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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