After reading the article “My Name is Mrs. Simon,” certain things came to my mind. The story that the narrator gives about her mother is strong and provoking. When the narrator’s mother was in the hospital, she experienced challenges with the healthcare staff, even though she was dying. The hospital staff did not accord her sufficient attention to an extent that some of the things she needed, including eyeglasses and other personal items were taken away from her despite demanding that they be given to her. Based on the article, I noted that the treatment and awareness of aged individuals was not properly established. The elderly also experienced certain forms of inhumane treatments from the healthcare staff. The reason for this was that various misconceptions prevailed concerning old people, who were not offered sufficient consideration (Elliot, 1988) . From the article, I feel that such institutions should ensure to institute measures of making sure that the elderly are treated with respect to facilitate in the healing process while at the same time allowing them to feel respected and appreciated. Failure to consider their interests might lead their health conditions to become worse. From the story, therefore, I have realized the need for improving communication between patients and healthcare workers to make the healing process more effective.
In healthcare settings, one of the major ways of improving communication between patients and healthcare workers is to allow additional time, especially for older adults. Studies have revealed that patients do not receive sufficient information unlike the case of the younger patients, while they are the ones who require more information from care providers. Due to the increased need receiving information and chances of communicating poorly, lacking focus and nervousness, care providers should make sure to offer older patients additional time. They should plan for communication and appear interested when communicating with the patients (Moir, Roberts, Martz, Perry, & Tivis, 2015) . The patients would be able to sense interestedness in communication, thus making it possible to realize effective communication.
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Avoiding distractions also serves as a major way of improving communication between patients and healthcare workers. In the event of patients, they prefer feeling that healthcare workers spend sufficient time with them while making them feel important. According to researchers, directing adequate attention to patients creates the impression that doctors spend quality time with them. Whenever possible, it is crucial to avoid auditory and visual distractions, such as avoiding focusing on people or things making noise in the background (Green, et al., 2018) . Such kind of a practice makes it possible for doctors to make sure that they understand the requirements of the patients correctly.
Furthermore, listening to the needs of the patients is essential. A large number of patients normally complain that their doctors to not listen to their grievances. Good listening makes it possible to facilitate effective communication. In this case, doctors should ensure to exercise caution when listening to what their patients say. It is possible to eradicate or reduce most of the challenges affiliated with noncompliance by ensuring to take time and listen to the grievances of the patients. In the viewpoint of researchers, they argue that doctors normally listen while having other things that interrupt them, which might lead them to miss vital information that their patients with to notify them about (Chevalier, Watson, Barras, & Cottrell, 2017) . In this perspective, therefore, improving communication with patients serves as a crucial undertaking. The reason for this is that it ensures that patients receive adequate healthcare, which improves their overall health wellbeing and quality of life.
References
Chevalier, B. A., Watson, B. M., Barras, M. A., & Cottrell, W. N. (2017). Investigating strategies used by hospital pharmacists to effectively communicate with patients during medication counselling. Health Expectations, 20 (5), 1121-1132. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5600236/
Elliot, E. (1988). My name is Mrs. Simon. Retrieved from https://bbhosted.cuny.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-37888203-dt-content-rid-249624031_1/xid-249624031_1
Green, D. B., Pua, B. B., Crawford, C. B., Abbey, G. N., Drexler, I. R., Legasto, A. C., & Gruden, J. F. (2018). Screening for lung cancer: communicating with patients. American Journal of Roentgenology, 210 (3), 497-502. Retrieved from https://www.ajronline.org/doi/10.2214/AJR.17.18836
Moir, C., Roberts, R., Martz, K., Perry, J., & Tivis, L. (2015). Communicating with patients and their families about palliative and end-of-life care: comfort and educational needs of nurses. International Journal of Palliative Nursing, 21 (3), 109-112. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4718559/
