Communication is the act of transferring information from one person, place, or group to another, and it involves a message, sender, and recipient. Effective communication can be influenced by emotions, medium of communication used, location, or even cultural situation. Communication can be categorized in different ways, which include verbal, nonverbal, written, or visualizations. Misinterpretation can occur at any stage of the communication process hence, for it to be effective, the barriers to effective communication, like the emotional barrier, should be minimized by all means.
Recall, Reflection, Relation, and Respond to a Communication Event Experience
The Event Recall
It was during my first-night shift ward rotation, whereby we were grouped in twos for every ward. That day, my colleague got late, and we had organized an alternating schedule that night, hence, he was to start drug distribution, but because of his lateness, I had to do his duty. I met a newly admitted psychotic patient whom it was hard to administer drugs to, and also, he went ahead to throw the medication away. It was a worse experience for me because I faced the consequences from the nurse in charge, which disappointed me, and when my colleague came, we did not talk for the rest of the shift.
Reflection on Thoughts Response Toward the Event
I thought all that happened to me during that time was because of taking somebody else’s responsibility. Maybe, if I knew that I was to experience such, I would not decide to do my colleague’s duty. I thought my colleague knew about the psychotic patient and perhaps chose to be late, so that I handled the patient before he came. In my thoughts, if I could be given the mandate to be in charge of the ward, I would send the colleague back home or to another ward.
Reflection on Feelings Response Toward the Event
I felt anxious and misused as I faced the consequences, which I was not supposed to for it was not yet my shift time. Apart from blaming my colleague for what happened, I somehow felt that the patient challenged my communication skills apart from him being psychotic, though I could have approached him differently. Through that harrowing and short experience, I felt underrated concerning my interaction and communication skills.
Reflection on Actions Response Toward the Event
At first, because the patient disappointed me, I became harsh to him and his informer. I did not even give the patient services he was supposed to be provided. I left the patient to be attended to later by someone else or not to be treated at all. When my colleague came, we quarried a lot to the point that the nurse in charge intervened and cooled us down. We stopped quarreling, though each one seemed upset, hence never talked to each other for the rest of the night.
Use of Communication Concepts in the Conflict
Empathy is whereby an individual can logically and expressively comprehend somebody else’s authenticity to correctly notice unspoken feelings and communicate the understanding to the other person. Compassion can be expressed when an individual pursues to sightsee the perception of another person. For somebody to have the ability to empathize, they need to have a sense of curiosity, patience and be willing to appreciate other persons’ viewpoints and context (DeVito et al., 2015).
An empathizer requires a good relational approach, beginning with readiness to open an interactive act and space. The statements reflecting empathy should be highly effective because they are an indication that a person has heard the emotional and factual content during a conversation. The words should be neutral and not judgmental to help justify the other party and develop a trusting relationship. I did not show compassion to the patient as required because I was already upset by my colleague who did not show up on time hence, I ended doing his job.
Sharing Observations
Observation can be done by providing comments on a person’s sounds, looks, and actions. This method helps in starting a good conversation with withdrawn and quiet individuals. It allows people to communicate without extensive questioning, clarification or focusing (DeVito et al., 2015). Observations that can embarrass, upset, or anger a person should not be stated even when they are made with humor. Sharing observation is different from making assumptions, whereby the premise involves concluding without informing the person being observed. An example of an assumption is a nurse interpreting that uneaten food indicates noninterest in meeting nutritional goals. Though the patient was psychotic, my misobservation of the patient contributed a lot to his reaction because I assumed he was normal like the other patients.
Sharing Feelings
Emotions can be subjective feelings that are a result of perceptions and thoughts. Feelings are not good, bad, correct, or wrong, but can be experienced as unpleasant or pleasant. Withholding feelings can exacerbate illness and increase stress, but most people do so to adhere to other people’s expectations and minimize unfriendly moods (DeVito et al., 2015). Sharing feelings can be done by encouraging communication with others, making observations, giving permission for expression, acknowledging other people’s feelings, and modeling well emotional assertiveness. When sharing feelings, it is significant to be concerned with personal emotions, as solid feelings may be challenging to hide most of the time. From the reaction, I got from the patient and the consequence I faced after it, I did not share my feelings with other colleagues since I was upset, which contributed most to the conflict with my workmate.
Respond to the Event
The incident taught me a great lesson on how to react to such situations in case they occur either during work time or at home. It taught me to have self-control even when I get upset, and with that, I can prevent occurrences of such disputes. Upon being embarrassed by a workmate or somebody else, I learned that I should not show emotions when performing my duties but instead share my feelings with other colleagues.
If I fail to change my behavior, I may have problems relating with others, mostly in my place of work, which can cause frequent conflicts and even lead to the loss of my job. Failure to share observations can lead to wrong interpretations due to assumptions, resulting in poor essential patient care at the workplace, hence being termed less skilled in the nursing sector. The inability to solve a conflict in a polite manner can bring problems in the future, both in the workplace and during family crises.
Change of behavior can be of great importance to my future life as it will improve my relationship with my colleagues, hence, I can frequently work without any conflict. Practicing good communication skills which involves hiding my emotions during work will help me do a quality job and provide services to people as required. It will help me in comprehending different ways to control emotions and peaceful methods of solving disputes.
I will practice some strategies to change my communication models. Examples of some of the approaches include practicing self-control and always being goal-oriented. Through self-drive, I will be able to deal with emotions, hence avoiding crossing certain boundaries when upset by someone. I can be goal-oriented by focusing mainly on my work and not being concerned with the little things that can annoy me during work.
Reference
DeVito, J. A., Clark, D., & Shimoni, R. (2015). Messages: Building interpersonal communication skills (5th ed.). Pearson.