RNs needed - speech class assignment

How can I help?

I dont know if this is what you have in mind- but when I enter a patient's room for the first time I am always aware of how I feel like I am 'on'. I go in- introduce myself and I have to find a way to communicate with this person I just met for the next 12 hours. Sometimes I really have to project my voice when the person is hard of hearing- and I have to make sure I use words that they understand. I often use humor to set them at ease. Yes- I think I use skills I learned in public speaking every day.

Another part of nursing is community service. We need and use public speaking skills any time we go before a community group--at a hospital sponsored health fair, or career day presentation to school children, for example. If we are assigned to attend a "Train the Trainer" class, we need to be effective communicators to pass that new skill or information on to coworkers.

Some speciaties in nursing rely heavily on public speaking skills. Diabetes education, cardiac rehab, nursing school instructor. Those people in organizational learning who present all of the employee orientation classes. If they are not effective speakers, the classes can seem interminable.

Public speaking skills are invaluable if you decide to become active in your local or national nursing organization, or a clinical specialty group. When I worked in critical care a few years ago, Our Clinical Specialist was elected national president of the Association of Critical Care Nurses. Excellent public speaking skills helped get her there and sustained her through an exciting and incredibly full year.

How's that? Will it help?

I'm heavily involved in Toastmasters when I am not working as a nurse. In addition to the speaking roles that a nurse may take on during classes or seminars, I find that my public speaking experience helps when I am speaking to the families of patients in the NICU. Interpersonal communication becomes critical when relaying patient information. As nurses, we often answer some of the most unpredictable and difficult questions from family members.

Nurses are educators (among thier many other roles) and not only of patients. I have often presented classes to my peers for staff education. I've never had a problem with public speaking (have a big mouth lol), but for some, it can be nerve-wracking. Your speech class will get you used to talking in front of folks who are your peers, which can actually be tougher than speaking in front of people you don't know who you'll never see again.

I remember in our speech class, we had a blast, thinking up topics for our impromtu speeches. Our instructor was very young, had been in college since she'd graduated HS and this was her first "real world" job. It was so cute to shock her - she was good natured of course, or we'd have never gotten away with it. The folks doing pre-req's for nursing school were very ornery as I recall. Can't imagine why LOL.

http://www.silencetovoice.com/

If you have the time, check out a copy of the book From Silence to Voice: What Nurses Know and Must Communicate to the Public, by Suzanne Gordon. She addresses this very subject, plus it's a great read. See above link. It's pretty much a how-to book for nurses to communicate to the public just what it is we do.

Thanks for the quick responses everybody. I've got a much better idea now. It looks like theres more to nursing than i thought, which i think is great btw.