communication

[hope4thebest]

how are you suppose to talk to someone who is unwilling to talk to you?

summary: I had to go in and talk to a patient about their health, and how they are feeling regarding their situation.

The patient I got did NOT want to talk, she told me that she wanted to sleep and to come back later. Which I did, but she told me the exact same thing an hour later.

so I informed my teacher, but some how I got the feeling that the teacher thought I was at fault...

so my question is; how do you get someone who is unwilling to talk to you to open up?

-is it even possible?

-what are your tricks?

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

well, the answer to that question is, you can't. you can't make anyone do anything they don't want to do. there are some people that are just not talkers. then, you have to understand that there is also an issue of trust. who knows what's going on in the patient's mind. there may be embarrassment that revealing something to you is going to embarrass them or damage their ego and self-esteem. some nuts are just harder to crack and it takes time and patience to crack the shell open. being empathetic, sympathetic and nonjudgmental is always a start. using good therapeutic verbal responses also helps as does watching your own non-verbal behavior when you're around the patient. all of that can only open the door for the patient to start talking when you give the right cues. outside of that, you can't make them do anything. however, you can at least report to your instructor that you laid a foundation of providing a basis for them to do so.

http://www2.nemcc.edu/rlansdell/web/communication%20test-taking%20strategies_files/frame.htm - a really nice slide show on therapeutic communication. includes techniques, scenarios and blocks to communication.

http://www.childbirths.com/euniversity/therapuetic.htm - therapeutic communication. a discussion about therapeutic communication that includes a nice listing of examples of appropriate open-ended responses to make to patients to get them to talk.

http://academic.luzerne.edu/nfrusciante/nur203/powerpoints/therapeuticcommunication_files/frame.htm - a slide show on therapeutic communication. talks about the components, goals, therapeutic and non-therapeutic techniques.

http://faculty.mc3.edu/rbenfiel/nur109/nur109communication/sld001.htm - communication. a slide show (18 slides)

http://www.education4skills.com/thecom/contents.html - therapeutic communication skills tutorial - page of links to subjects covered

http://www.unc.edu/courses/2004fall/nurs/090/001/class6/index.html - therapeutic communication. some online information and practice modules from the university of north carolina chapel hill school of nursing. click on the links on the left side of the page to access activities.

http://monsoon.he.net/~eri/realaudio/therapeutic/thera.htm - a lecture series on therapeutic communication and the nursing process on cds that you can access at this website from education resources, inc. you need a real player to view the video.