Communication is the basis for everything in life. It is an important pillar which we use to build healthy relationships. We hear about it in every aspect of relationships; mainly in worlds of romance and friendship, but it also is something that we must consider in healthcare, especially between patient and caregiver. The relationship between patient and caregiver includes a doctor, a nurse, a psychologist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, care aide or a family member who fills that role.
We must communicate even when it is uncomfortable or uneasy. Communication is the key pillar to healing. You have to get everything out on the table. An open line of communication is the only way we can move forward. After a stroke, many people lose the ability to verbally communicate so they get pushed aside and forgotten by the system. The good thing is that humans can communicate with their body language, people just have to want to hear what they are saying. So please, listen, it is not hard, I promise.
I didn't lose my ability to verbally communicate after my stroke, but I was repeatedly told by my care team abroad that I am imagining my lived experiences and so the doubt crept in. It took me a while to trust myself again and find my voice but once I found my voice, I started using it. I do not plan to stop anytime soon either. It got to the point where after three months of complaining about the conditions and treatment, on the day I was discharged, the head of the neuro rehab ward came to my room for a meeting. My words didn’t change anything, but I laid it all out on the table, healthcare professional to healthcare professional. But why did it take so long? Why did my words do nothing? I understand the messiness of the healthcare world, I chose to work in this field to try and fix and heal the messiness of the very broken system. I am well aware that the aids caring for me and the others in the neuro rehab ward were underappreciated, underpaid and under trained; however, that is not the patient's responsibility to fix; that is the management's job. Taking out their frustrations on helpless patients is not the way to get better working conditions. I am an empath so I would try to understand where they are coming from and show my appreciation to the employees who deserved it. When my friends sent me treats, I would share them with the aides that I connected with and noticed were compassionate and hardworking; they were the ones who deserved to be recognized. This was not my burden or the other patients’ burden to carry and that’s a problem.
A person cannot truly heal if their needs, all of them, are not being met. It’s a twist on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. A patient can’t physically heal if mentally they are in distress. If someone doesn’t feel safe, their mind will not rest; which is critical for physical and neuro recovery. How can staff fulfill patients' needs if they aren’t listening to whatever form of communication the patient is using?
In order to prevent further hindrance of the patient’s recovery, the educational system in which healthcare professionals are trained in should dive deeply into teaching compassion and communication and not gloss over it as an “obvious” characteristic that their students should have, in theory. A smart and inquisitive doctor can only do so much for a patient, positive bedside manners and compassionate care can do much more for a patient’s healing than any GPA or school honors. I know this from personal experience. My healing began to improve the moment I was in the hands of a care team that was compassionate and excelled in their communication.
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