Some Useful Commentary on Communication of Health care
settings
A practical example can answer the above question in the better way. My friend Magi is a personal support worker, working in a nursing home, consisting eleven PSWs in each shift. In a monthly meeting, once the supervisor asked the morning shift members to do one and half hour extra voluntary duty for two months due to excessive demand of new clients. First Magi showed disagreement and then three more members disagreed with the supervisor but the supervisor did not showed any flexibility on his proposal. Through the long meeting, he was unable to make any compromise with the morning shift employee of the nursing home. The morning shift members of the caregiver group were too much frustrated. After one week, three members including Magi of the morning shift group resigned the job and joined another nursing home. This is the extreme condition of conflict phase. From the above example, we see the breakdown of a small group due to inappropriate utilization of conflict phase. What should be the proper role of a leader in conflict phase? What should be the responsibilities of members of the group in this phase?
Let us try to answer the above questions in the light of the given real life example. In the story we find, conflict goes too far due to inflexible character of the leader, as a result break down of the group is happened. During the conflict phase, members are in fear of harming the cohesiveness and of poor group functioning. Destruction of the infrastructure of the small group may happen due to the failure of the leadership and the intolerance of group members. Members have needs and interests, which are satisfied by the leader and leader’s control over the members are established. For above case, supervisor could be open-minded to describe the situation of the organization and ask for honest suggestions to the group members. He could declare any alternative benefit for their extra duty. By the satisfaction of the needs, struggle of the members for the control over the will and proposal of the supervisor to achieve their interest could be minimized. By the proper use of conflict phase, the nursing home, in this particular case, could get good suggestion and decision from the group.
There are codes of conduct, how the group shows agreement or disagreement with the leader or management. The leaders also have to know, how they behave with the group members to satisfy the interest of the organization. For example, we see in the industrial sector, trade union (group) and leaders or management struggle for control among themselves within the infrastructure of union’s or group’s written constitution. Sometimes confliction may cause devastation due to inappropriate use of the conflict phase or to break the codes of conduct. I did have a lots of experience from the industrial sector where misuse of this phase caused enormous sufferings to both leader and the group members.
In the conclusion we can say, the role of leader in the conflict phase is more significant than that of group members for sound existence of the group and healthy group functioning and services. On the other hand, group members should be tolerant and suggestive to the leader or to the management.
Conflict and Communication in
Health Care Setting
In human relationship conflict is inevitable. Conflict can be used for good decision-making but if it goes out of control, it must affect the interpersonal relationship, group relationship and communication between conflicting parties. So, it is compulsory to take necessary measures to resolve the conflicts. One of the means that effectively helps to resolve the conflict is face-saving strategy. It refers to communicative attempts to maintain self-image to a perceived threat. To resolve conflict, face-saving strategy works in concern with the idea, what would be others view in response to the activities of the participants in the conflict. What will be consequence of conflicts in assessing the relationship between the participating parties, this sense also acts to resolve the conflict in face-saving approach. Conflict does not go too much devastating if everybody is concern with the personal image and position.
Following practical example will clarify how face-saving strategy helps to resolve the conflicts among the participating parties: Once I was admitted in a public hospital for medical treatment in my home country. At that time, there happened a conflict in the emergency department. Medical lab technologists and technicians everyday four hours strike for two months in opposing compulsory overtime imposed on them from the management. For this strike they feared to harm the relationship and communication with the management and clients. The participants of conflicts were thinking, what the people or clients are evaluating them on going to strike in emergency department. So, in the mid period of the strike the gave advertisement in the public media that they went to strike to provide better service to the clients as well as to oppose the illegal decision from the management. This message is called face-saving message, which helps to rebuild the relationship and communication between the conflicting parties. On going strike, the lab workers got waiver of the compulsory overtime duties. Hospital management also published message in the public media at the end of the strike and apologize to the public for their inconvenience and difficulties. This message from the management also contributed to rebuild their relationship with employee as well as clients.
I think, the approach of face-saving strategy helps to rise the conscience among the participants of conflict by evaluation of their image and position in the relationship level. They feel the importance of their interpersonal relationship and get time to analyze the facts of conflicts.
Ethics and Health Communication
Going through chapter eight, I find, there are some issues relating patients and health care professionals in the health care setting, which produce the ethical questions. For example, organ transplantation, assisted suicide, genetic advances, stem cell therapy, rational health care are special areas of concern for professionals. To deal with these ethical issues professionals have to communicate with patients, significant others of the patients, legal institutions and public authorities. Every type of communication has its own mode, style and terminology. Sometimes professionals do not have to communicate directly with legal or public authorities because they do have some formal regulations from those institutions. Professionals must have to deal with patients and their significant others directly regarding ethical issues.
Let me cite some practical example in the context of ethical issues in the health care setting. At critical condition or at terminally sickness state, sometimes guardians of the patients try to impose the interest, promise, independence or mode of life of the patient on the normal procedure of treatment. Sometimes patients become dependent on some special therapy or treatment, which may shorten their freedom and interest of life, make them unhappy and desperate about life. Then they try to influence the professionals directly or indirectly to withdraw the treatment and make them free. They may die without that treatment. Professionals have to handle those ethical matters with intelligence, commonsense, conventional rules and regulations and contemporary cultural values. They have to communicate basically with the patients’ significant others logically and convince them by boosting up their commonsense and humanity.
For the sake of the emotional interest, how patients or their significant others strongly oppose the normal procedure of treatment can be realized in the following example. Once, one of my friends, Loyed was attacked by the members of a gang at night in Jane and Steels area. He was hospitalized four hours after the attack. Most of the bones of his head, jaws and collar bones were found broken. Doctors gave him ventilation, some sort of artificial breathing, pace maker and several other machines to keep him alive. He was alive but without consciousness. For long nine months he was in coma state. Doctors and other medical professionals assessed his condition and find no chance to recover the consciousness. They propose to remove the ventilation but all relatives and acquaintance of the patient opposed the proposal. They said nobody has right to take life of a person because nobody has ability to create life, it is against ethics and religion. Medical professionals were unable to convince them to remove the ventilation from the patient. Professionals handled the situation with care and commonsense. After long three months situation was going in favour of the professionals. Mother of the patient agreed to remove the artificial life supports because she thought soul of the patient were in great pain and suffering due to those machines, and then one by one, everybody agreed or partially agreed with the idea. The machines were removed, the patient died within his coma in some moment.
We have more issues based
on ethics, handled by professionals every now and then. Modern technology
brings forth several devices and ideas to remove sickness, they have power to
elongate and save life but in some cases our legal institutions just stop them
with embargo instantly, our society is slow enough to decide what to do with
them, one of the best examples among them is to treat Parkinson’s disease with
embryonic cell.
