Nurse Improvements
The nurse should have developed a personal relationship with Adelgonda Correa to enhance communication with the patient when offering medication. The nurse had not gotten adequate time during previous shifts to initiate a conversation with Correa since only required duties were performed. This shows that the nurse had not managed to develop a relationship with the patient hence the challenge in maintaining the flow of communication. The patient perceived the nurse as a stranger with whom she could not trust her information.
Another thing that the nurse could have done to foster communication with the patient is showing compassion. This would have helped to create a perspective in the patient that a nurse had respect for them (Dalvandi et al., 2019). Such patients are likely to trust the nurse and be more ready to share information. The nurse should also have had cultural awareness about the patient’s ethnic background. Patients come from different cultures and regions, therefore, have varying values and beliefs. In this case, common practices within a particular culture may not be applicable to others. By being culturally aware of the patient’s culture, the nurse would have established strategies to enhance communication.
Reasons Behind Patient’s Actions
The patient acted the way she did towards the nurse due to her cultural background. The patient has an Ecuadorian background, which might have influenced the assumptions made about the nurse. The patient’s culture could also be a barrier to the patient interpreting the shared message, hence the decision to ignore the nurse. The patient was also distracted by the television in the ward since she appeared to be paying more attention to it than the nurse. In this case, the nurse should consider initiating conversation with the patient in a location that has minimal distraction.
Reference
Dalvandi, A., Vaisi-Raygani, A., Nourozi, K., Ebadi, A., & Rahgozar, M. (2019). The importance and extent of providing compassionate nursing care from the viewpoint of patients hospitalized in educational hospitals in Kermanshah-Iran 2017. Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences, 7(6), 1047.