Interpersonal interactions in health Essay

Language Barrier/ Overwhelming Language. Mrs Singh and her husband speak minimal English. This would firstly be a barrier between the MDT staff present at the meeting and themselves. The MDT team are using jargon and large words that neither Mrs Singh nor her husband can understand because of their lack of English language. They would have to try and guess what was being said through body language, facial expressions and tone of voice. What is being said can be completely misunderstood and can make the situation a lot worse. In this scenario a translator would have been effective in breaking the barrier between Mrs Singh, her husband and the doctors. The doctors are not including Mrs Singh and her husband in the conversation or checking that what is being said is understood by them. They are not using open questions to confirm their understanding. This is not a good feeling for them to be feeling and means that it has not been communicated effectively. Without the translator or the doctors making sure they understand, Mrs S ingh and her husband will be feeling very confused and nervous. Tone/Speed of Conversation The MDT team need to understand that not everything that is being said is being interpreted correctly and this conversation is not effective because of their lack of thought. When explaining and trying to organise the discharge package for Mrs Singh, it is quite clear that she does not understand what is being explained and discussed because of the bewildered look on her and her husband’s face. The MDT team need to slow down what they are saying and need to be clearer with explaining the package. They will  need to be patient because it will take Mrs Singh longer to understand what is being said because of the language barrier. Once again they will also need to ask open questions to solidify that Mrs Singh understands what is being said. As a team they will need to give Mrs Singh and her husband time to respond to the discussion and have a chance to ask question if they’re needed (which they should know). Tones of voice needs to be thought about as well because this i s how Mrs Singh would try and interpret what is being said because she won’t understand the language clearly. The Environment The main problem with where and when it was held in the public, ward day room at lunch time. The fact that it was in a public place is not helpful or ideal to the situation because it was very busy and not private or personal at all. It was also done at lunchtime, where the people involved in the conversation would most likely be hungry so would not be concentrating well and get distracted and this would not be helpful or best for the situation. The fact that there are a lot of people at the meeting (7 MDT team members and Mrs Singh and her husband) would usually be helpful because the more people, the more helpful it can be to the patient but the fact there was a lot of people in such a crowded situation makes it very overwhelming and can be unhelpful and intimidating. Because it was held at lunchtime, it was very noisy and the background noise was very distracting and unsettling. Not being able to hear made the ward nurse raise her voice which is very scary for Mrs Singh seeing as she doesn’t understand what is being said anyway. The fact that her voice had to be raised can also make Mrs Singh feel that there may be something wrong and if you cannot understand the language, you listen to the tone of voice and figure out what is trying to be explained so if they are shouting it creates a negative environment.