Based on viewing the video of the nursing student’s experience in clinical working environment in Hong Kong, this paper mainly focuses on communication between nurses and clients by using my recent experiences and observations as a volunteer in Queen Mary Hospital.
First of all, effective communication works as a treatment for clients in need. In my experience, a male client was admitted with the complaint of urine retention and lower abdominal pain. The doctor advised him to have catheterization to remove urine, but he refused. I asked the client why he refused to have catheterization in a calm voice, sat next to him and held his hand. Then he expressed his feeling that he did not want to be exposed in front of female nurses. I found that effective communication techniques and therapeutic interpersonal development not only helped me to encourage patient to express his feelings and worries, but also benefited the client by relieving his pain and making him comfortable in clinical environment. For example, touch can give the client the feeling of reassurance, understanding and caring.
Secondly, communication barriers can affect the relationships between nurses and clients. In my experience, a young client was admitted whose hemoglobin level was low and the doctor advised her to have blood transfusion but she refused. Then a male nurse tried to convince her that why the blood transfusion was important for her recovery. She was anxious and did not like that information. Also, she interpreted it as the nurse was forcing her to have blood transfusion and felt humiliated by opposite gender nurse. I held the client’s hand and asked her concerns. Then she expressed that she was afraid to catch communicable diseases through blood transfusion. I found that gender relations are complex and professional nurses need to acknowledge the power and commonness of them. In addition,