Therapeutic Communication Techniques, Essay Example

Two day session that took place on Saturday and Sunday aimed at teaching the staff about therapeutic communication techniques (staff members of cold spring hill center nursing home).It consisted of patients and residents with multiple medical needs such as; panic Disorder, phobias, obsessive compulsive disorder, general anxiety disorder, somatoform disorder, conversation disorder, conversion disorder, Hypochodriasis, sleep disorders ,body dysmorphic disorder, dissociative Amnesia and depersonalization disorder. Anxiety disorder is known to occur when normal coping skills are unable to adequately deal with stressors. It can also result from chronic inadequate responses to stressors or from one overwhelming stressors. Stressors can be real or imagined and varies (stressor for one person may not be a stressor for another) stressors are a threat to biological or psychological integrity they are the cause of biological predisposition resulting to development of anxiety disorders. Nurses working with anxious patients were advised to monitor their own feelings since anxiety is easily transmitted.

The main concern is how to cope with this condition. Coping skills were divided into two. Conscious (actions taken to reduce anxiety and stress) and defense mechanisms which are unconscious (mental process used to reduce anxiety and stress). Coping skills and defense mechanisms can be healthy or unhealthy. Unhealthy coping skills and defense mechanisms distort reality and impair problem solving which leads to maladaptive behaviors. Some of the defense mechanisms include; perception of reality, fantasy displacement regression, internalization conversation dissociation and suppression undoing. Majority anxiety disorders create primary gains in which the anxiety is temporarily decreased even when the behavior is maladaptive. Secondary gain is achieved when there are additional benefits from the anxiety disorder such as increased attention and reduced responsibilities.

There existed levels of anxiety. Mild, this entails alertness, problem solving and concentration, muscle tense and irritability. Moderate, entails selective inattention, narrowed perceptual field, and restlessness. Severe, entails perception disjointed, minimal problem solving, poor concentration hand wringing and crying. Anxiety causes increased pulse, respiratory rate and blood pressure. It also affects the GI track and skin pain perception. It was pointed out that with lower levels of anxiety teaching and other interventions can be done in addition to dealing with anxiety. Teaching anxiety reducing strategies distractions and deep breathing can be applied.

Nursing problems pointed out to be; altered thought process, impaired social interactions, ineffective role performance, self-care deficit, spiritual distress, anxiety or fear, risk for injury and risk confusion acute. Goals such as, handling patients with severe anxiety and panic was realized. Strong believe that patients will not arm self or others and ability to state a decrease in anxiety level.

In society that value truth, the fact of not being totally truthful with patient who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer disease or related conditions is portrayed stressful for caregivers. Nurse students delivering lecture pointed out that therapeutic techniques is a controversial yet very effective way of dealing with the anxiety encountered by majority of people with Alzheimer and depression. Application of creative communication technique helps reduce caregivers stress as well as that of the affected.

Staff was able to learn about dementia, cause of disease, and the use of therapeutic communication techniques to better interact and decrease behavior issues in dementia patients. Dementia defined as chronic or long term disorder of the mental processes caused by brain disease and characterized by memory disorders, personality alteration and impaired reasoning. Dementia is known to affect a person’s ability to carry out normal conversation. It damages the parts of the brain needed for remembering, understanding and forming new thoughts. ADLs are disrupted and physical dependency on others is increased. Problem affecting effective communication in dementia patients include: Trouble finding the right words and understanding their meaning, difficulty thinking logically or following local discussions, Loss of common sense, problem paying attention and loss of train thought.

When using creative communication techniques one is not intending to deceive your loved one. What one is doing is simply helping them feel more comfortable and that they are in a more conducive and secure place. Some of the communication techniques pointed out include; use of simple and exact words, responding to the persons feelings, and  not their words, avoid reasoning with the person, trying as much as possible to be relaxed and smile, responding calmly to anger and avoid contradiction, do not disagree or argue with made up stories.

Many staff members of cold spring hill center nursing home, reported difficulties in an attempt to apply therapeutic communication techniques. The main goal is always to comfort the individual with Alzheimer, anxiety or depression and to spare them unnecessary emotional upset. It is majorly seen as an act of kindness rather than deception. Using person focus approach, resolution therapy, and validation therapy and pre therapy focus should be on the person with dementia, his/her emotions and understanding of feelings, not his/her diseased brain or memory losses.
Students were able to identify that communication play major role in behavior management. For instance one is able to assess the situation. For example, when one has observed the person’s behavior he/she should try to find out what might have triggered it. Nurses can provide comfort through validation. This is a technique that allows the person to stay in the situation without being proven wrong or brought back to reality. The staff and students were able to learn and note ways to respond to people affected by anxiety and Alzheimer for instance; listening to the frustration, providing reassurance, modifying the environment (decreasing the noise and distractions). Finding out the outlets for the persons energy and encouraging them to see the doctor.

Conclusion

The two day session was productive. Staffs were able to learn therapeutic communication techniques. The participants especially students were able to utilize and reinforce learning related to the course of student learning outcome as well as the core values of the program. Creative communication techniques can not only relieve patient of emotional upset but they can help reduce caregiver stress as well.

Communication is a social skill of great importance for maintaining meaningful social contact with others. Both verbal and non-verbal modes of communication can be severely disrupted by dementia. Learning and applying therapeutic communication when dealing with patients affected by dementia is the key both to understanding and resolving behaviors disturbances.