Communication forms part of everyday lives. Whether people use their words to express themselves or not, they still communicate. In every social place, there has to be a way to pass a message from one location to another. Health institutions need to have clear communication channels to avoid misinterpretation of information.
The case scenario about the young English student nurse is one of the many problems that occur when there is a breakdown in communication channels. The student nurse shouts at a patient who needs her care. It even does not work out well when the patient is unable to control the situation and has to wet the bed and throw up on the floor (Buchbinder, Shanks and Buchbinder 2014).
The problem occurs because of the mentors who were supposed to have helped her before leaving the nurse to continue with the behavior. Instead of finding solutions to her problem, they shared it amongst themselves and other staff. The new mentor had to observe and talk to her later.
Such a problem requires the health institution to have communication channels that are capable of solving the problem with immediate effect. There has to be a code of ethics that gives instructions on how a nurse should address a patient. The rules should provide disciplinary actions that allow the management to take appropriate measures to prevent repetitive mistakes.
Confidentiality should be of utmost importance when dealing with employee problems. The management should set up rules on employee conduct and how sol employeese’s misconduct. The information shared with the employee, and the management should remain confidential. The files of each employee and their dealings with the management should be kept away from the reach of any third party unless it is a legal representative assigned by the worker and accepted by the management.
Employees also need to have a channel through which they can air their grievances (Sullivan et al. 2011). The student nurse could have had a moment before coming back for the second placement to state what her problem was. She has had several mentors, and it seems they have not solved the problem. There should be a mechanism on how to evaluate the workers and give recommendations to the Human Resource team. It could have given the means and ways how to deal with the problem before it got out of hand.
Sharing of information with relevant authorities enables the authorities to find amicable solutions before it gets out of hand. Once a problem has occurred, the responsible people need to update the Human Resource and together find a way out of the problem. The management needs to arrange for staff training workshops to acquaint personnel with policies, rules, and regulations (Sullivan et al. 2011).
The workers need to preserve the patient’s dignity. They need to know how to deal with all patients despite their condition or origin (Muñoz, Luckmann and Luckmann 2005). A person’s race or tribe should not be a reason to discriminate against him or her. Every social and health worker should have equal treatment at the workplace. And every health consumer should also be able to receive proper care from health service providers. A health care worker should practice active listening so that he or she can know how to address the work issues. Customers should receive excellent service and build trust and confidence in the health institution as well as the service providers (Mason, Leavitt and Chaffee 2012). The health providers should be able to gather enough information about health issues and customer concerns so that they may give good reports. The service providers should also not fear to express their views openly.
References
Buchbinder, S., Shanks, N. and Buchbinder, D. (2014). Cases in health care management. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Mason, D., Leavitt, J. and Chaffee, M. (2012). Policy & politics in nursing and health care. St. Louis, Mo.: Elsevier/Saunders.
Muñoz, C., Luckmann, J. and Luckmann, J. (2005). Transcultural communication in nursing. Clifton Park, NY: Thomson/Delmar Learning.
Sullivan, M., Ferguson, W., Haley, H., Philbin, M., Kedian, T., Sullivan, K. and Quirk, M. (2011). Expert Communication Training for Providers in Community Health Centers. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 22(4), pp.1358-1368.