I thought that my communication skill has improved immensely over this year but that was until I met my last patient on my last prac. She has been complaining of LL weakness and sensation chances and recently had a fall and admitted to hospital. She showed signs of demyelination after a EMG was performed. But the horror was that she spoke no English at all.
This little but quite voluptous asian lady would be slumped in her bed everytime I saw her and in the nursing notes it would describe that she refuse to cooperate. The challenge was to explain to her that she needs to get up and moving or at least sitting upright in a chair but without using English. I drew stick figures and made some very interesting gestures but all I managed to get out of her was a smile as if 'you want me to do that, no way!' I had such a difficult time with her to get her to move. I spoke to my supervisors but they came up with the same techniques but they did ellaborate on handling skills. My supervisor told me that in order to get someone to move just the hand placements will be sufficient enough to guide them. But the issue with this lady is that she doesn't want to move, she quite like the idea of being provided for...any thoughts on this?
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2 comments:
That made me chuckle Le..try teaching a non english speaking or understanding lady about your pelvic floor muscles!!!
I think people react differently to a hospital environment. There are those that you have to stop from doing too much because they want to get out of the place and those that sometimes can't help but like the attention that it brings. That sounds horrible I don't mean to suggest that everyone does but we need to remember that people react differently to pain/emotion etc.
You've done all you can, and sometimes for no reason than its someone different - someone else may come in and try to get your patient to move and they will. For some reason we respond to some people better than others. There is no harm in asking to 'switch patients' because they don't respond to you. Obviously this can't be done all the time but I believe it has its place and is important to recognise that you can't please everyone.
sorry lisa, I just dont agree with you this time by your saying "you have done all you can". How easy we can just excuse ourself for not trying hard enough.
Le, what about contacting her family or friends who understand English and maybe treat the patient when they visit her so they can be your interpretors. And it is also a fantastic way to build up your rapport with your patient too. Coming from Chinese background, I bet that this patient had no idea bout your stick diagrams. (she might not see cartoons in her childhood so she had no idea what you were drawing on the paper).
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