Communication: The Importance Of Communication In A Care Home Essay

In order to gain Mary’s trust and reliability, as a manager of the care home I have to advice Mary’s social worker to offer her the affection and support she has never received, in the care home. In order to effectively inform the social worker about the details of Mary’s situation- a very thorough verbal discussion will have to take place. This also involves a group conversation with the social worker and Mary, who can assist her point of views- as well as her troubles being expressed. This way, we would be able to understand Mary’s personal perspective as well as being able to find the solution to gain her trust in the care home.

On the other hand, Mary’s slurred speech and hearing impairment may be an issue to deal with in terms of maintaining a conversation, however there are many ways to effectively overcome these struggles and help her enrich trustworthiness in the care home. It is important to create a line of communication between myself, the social worker and the patient so that we can already build a stable relationship that has been gained through communication, involving the exchange of intentions and thoughts which ensues the gaining of sympathy and mutual understanding.

The aim of this interaction is to give Mary the love and care she has not received in her abusive home, as well as maintaining a trustful relationship between staff and Mary in order to resolve her attendance to her day centre and physiotherapy sessions. Objectives: Understand why Mary has been missing her appointments To reassure her that we are here to help and can be trusted To acknowledge her that we are aware of her issues and are trying to make a better environment and meanwhile- help her.

Acknowledged difficulties: Mary’s slurred speech, poor English and hearing impairment may take some time, however I will give her time to find her words with possible non-verbal communication and talk as slow and humbly as possible, to sustain a stress-free environment. She is a very sensitive patient that has been through a lot of emotional pain, thus I will show her I am a friend and want to help. In terms of interaction being clear for such a patient; facial expressions, gestures, body language, possibly written words, et al will will make communication much easier.

The setting for this interaction is also very significant as it needs to be a quiet, reasonably spacial and comfortable environment in order for her to be at ease during this discussion. This will take a minimum of 15 minutes, depending on how good or bad the conversation is going and how it is flowing. I will begin by greeting her in a friendly manner and introducing myself as the manager of the care home, and then ask her how she is doing in order to put across a friendly relationship from the start.

Shortly I will ask her if she is okay with having a conversation privately in another room, in order to check that she is stable enough for a conversation. This also involves her comfortability with the space, asking her if how far or close I am is okay and if the room is a good place. My main objective is to talk about the problem and to see her point of view, as well as making sure that I come across as an understanding and friendly person to talk to, in order to gain the trust for the care home.

The constant aim is to establish reassurance and reliability between her and the care home so that she is aware of the help available. In this process, I will make sure to avoid jargon, listen accordingly, speak clearly and at the appropriate times, sustain simple and plain responses as well as questions, understand her situation and perspective so that I can provide her with the correct reassurance as well as making sure to show her my interest into helping her by constantly nodding and express my friendly nature.

The most significant element of this discussion is to make sure that she understands my aim and that I am here to help, as well as her understanding my responses. 1. 3 Communication is the foundation of health and social care as it provides the ability to build a bridge of trust and mutual reliability. Professional formal manner of conversation makes interaction clear and easy to follow as well as developing a form of respect for one another. However, there can be barriers of communication such as difficulty of hearing, seeing or speaking making interaction more difficult than usual.

In this case many forms of expression is used. On the other hand, there are also internal barriers such as intellectuality, background, ethnicity, religion, emotional mindset et al. People are always going to be in some-way different, causing a clash of character. My patient Mary Brown, is a 20 year old female of Asian descent who suffers from a cerebral palsy with epilepsy, slurred speech, hearing impairment and learning difficulty. Moreover, she speaks very little English and never had a formal education.

I am mostly concerned about her medical condition slurred speech and hearing impairment, which can make a conversation difficult; however gestures and non verbal forms of interaction can come in handy to make the process easier. Due to Mary’s lack of English language, I will make sure to speak slowly and clearly in order for her to understand at the best of her ability what I am trying to communicate. This also involves patience and a calm manner of speech in order for her to feel at ease with her struggle to understand.

With Mary, I will try to ask simple short questions in order to avoid a stressful and confusing situation that may lead to an even bigger emotional distance from the care home. To avoid this possibility, I will make sure to nod accordingly at her replies as well as approach my questions and statements in a very calm and friendly manner. Another subtle barrier that may cause an emotional distance is the cultural background Mary comes from. This can involve the way we dress, eat or talk differently. I will try to seem as accepting and welcoming as possible if she gets offended in any way, at first sight.

Mary is of Asian descent which may or may not be very different from the environment in our care home thus I will try my best to give a good first impression and establish good manners and respect to her background, in order for her to feel comfortable and unprejudiced. Patience is a key factor in this interaction as I do not want to give away the wrong attitude and make her feel distant from the help we are offering. In terms of the language being an evident issue, I will use an interpretor if needed.

However, I will try to repeat simple words as clearly as possible with the use of other ranges of communication such as body language, facial expressions and gestures. Slang is to be avoided completely as Mary can hardly understand the English language altogether and needs to be spoken to in formal simple statements in order to have a much easier learning process of the language, as well as understanding some words. The difficulties we have to face with Mary’s medical conditions and evident language difference is unavoidable in a flowing discussion, however they can be minimised.