Communication And Interpersonal Interaction Barriers

How this is a barrier for effective communication and interpersonal interaction Within the home there are some residents which permanently live in the home, whilst the home is also a day centre which other residents visit on set days of the week This would be a barrier for effective communication because the residents within the home will have formed friendships and will know each other well as they live with each other and will be very familiar. Other residents that visit the day centre might not know the other residents that permanently live within the home, so they could feel excluded. They may feel excluded because they cannot easily go and talk to people they do not know or they may feel intimidated by groups of people who are already familiar with each other. Mr Polanski, a resident who visits the day centre 3 times a week is severely blind

There would be personal barriers for Mr Polanski, he wouldn’t be able to see himself in the mirror so he might feel very self-conscious, he might walk into objects, and he would also need constant help with mobility. As he is visually impaired he will have difficulty interacting with the other residents in the home because he might not be able to see how they are reacting or the other residents might feel uncomfortable communicating with him Mr Polanski is also gradually losing his hearing

Loss of hearing will be another personal barrier for Mr Polanski; he will not be able to hear the TV as well as other residents within the home might be able to. He will also find it hard to hear what people are saying. This might affect his confidence because he might not want to keep asking people to repeat themselves. Mr Polanski will also have difficulty with participating in activities; this could make him feel confused and excluded. In the lounge there is a loud TV and is on constantly so the residents can watch it throughout the day. It is fairly loud so that all of the residents are able to hear it The loud TV is a barrier for the residents that want to play cards and chat because they might not be able to concentrate because of the volume of the TV. Some of the residents were even complaining that the TV was too quiet, for the residents who have normal hearing; this could become annoying for them. There could the potential for conflict between the residents as they might not be able to control their anger and then they might lash out. It is important that all of the residents needs are considered to avoid conflict. Some of the residents in the home are staring at a wall whilst the others are watching TV, chatting or playing card games.

The residents staring at a wall will be excluded from the activities which the other residents are participating in. They might feel sad and lonely because they are being excluded from the rest of the activities. Staring at a wall all day will be bad for these residents; their brain would need something more to think about. The other residents might think that it is the norm for these people to be staring at a wall all day. This might also be classed as bad working practise because the staff within the home should be considering all of the resident’s needs. Whilst some of the residents will remain in the lounge, the staff will be having to help other residents get to the bathroom

Mrs Willoughby another resident in the home is asked to help Mr Polanski fill out his bingo card because he cannot do it himself but still has every right to contribute in the game. Whilst this is good that the staff are making sure that the residents get to the bathroom safely, however there will also be residents within the home that will be left unsupervised in the lounge whilst watching TV with the potential for conflict over the volume of the TV. As the residents are elderly, they are more likely to anger, so it is important that a member of staff is always supervising to prevent any conflict between residents.

Mrs Willoughby was asked to help Mr Polanski to fill out his bingo card because he is unable to. This means that Mr Polanski has been completely excluded from the game. Due to Mr Polanski’s hearing and visual and hearing impairments, he is restricted as to what he can and cannot participate in. Mr Polanski might also feel quite intimidated or patronised because one of the other residents within the home has to help him with something that most people might be able to for themselves. Mrs Willoughby took Mr Polanski’s bingo prize without him being aware he’d even won. Mr Polanski can be taken advantage of by other people because of his hearing and visual impairment.

Mrs Willoughby was able to claim Mr Polanski’s bingo prize whilst he was unaware. If staff were properly supervising the residents, they wouldn’t be able to take advantage of each other. The residents were only there for the day centre were paired with residents that lived within the home long term This could be a barrier to communication because the residents that are only coming to the home for the day centre for however many days a week may feel intimidated by the residents that have lived within the home for a long time. They might be made to feel unwelcome by some of the residents. There is a pungent smell in the lounge as one of the residents has to wear incontinence pads

The smell is in the lounge which is the main room where most of the residents will spend most of their time. Some of the residents might feel uncomfortable being within the lounge with the horrible smell. Staff within the care home have a duty to make sure the residents feel comfortable and that they are clean. Some of the residents might feel scared to say anything about that e smell because they might not want to upset the resident that smells. The resident that does smell might feel embarrassed to ask or say that they need help to clean themselves up.

Barriers
How this is a barrier for effective communication and interpersonal interaction The GP practice is very busy and consists of five partners

The surgery may feel very off putting if it is very busy people will be going to the doctors for an illness and they will have that on their mind, they may not be able to focus if they are in a busy loud surgery. The patients might also feel uncomfortable being in a busy surgery and might find it difficult to communicate with the staff in the surgery. The surgery is on a main road with limited parking

Main roads are usually quite busy so it could be off putting for people that don’t like to drive on busy roads, they might avoid going to the doctors. If there is no parking for people they might be more aggravated because they have to park further away from the surgery. People might also then find it hard to get to their appointment on time. The surgery has a cramped waiting room

If the surgery has a cramped waiting room they might feel uncomfortable being in there. The conditions within the waiting room might be stuffy and could make people that are feeling sick feel even worse. If there are lots of people within the waiting room it could be quite loud making it hard to communicate. Children in the waiting room having major tantrums

Children in the waiting room having major tantrums could cause upset or distress the people waiting because of the noise. People might not be able to hear over the tantrum and could even miss their appointment. The mother of the children will also feel quite embarrassed. Yolander is frightened about being admitted to hospital and is confident her GP will give her anti-biotics Yolander will be feeling scared and panicky about having to go to the hospital so this may affect communication with the GP. Yolander may not tell the truth about how she is feeling and might try to hide her real symptoms to make sure that she isn’t admitted to hospital. The worry about being admitted to hospital could impact her and make the situation much worse. Yolander’s usual GP is away on maternity leave so she now has a locum GP Yolander having a locum GP might affect communication because she is not familiar with him. Yolander may have built a trust with her GP which has now left. Yolander might also be put on edge because she was expecting her usual GP but was then surprised with the different GP. The new locum GP is running late

The surgery will get more cramped because more patients will be turning up for their appointments meaning that it will then become even harder to communicate. The patients will become inpatient waiting for the GP to finally arrive. People might leave meaning that their condition could worsen.

The usual GP is a female, the new locum GP is a male

Yolander may feel uncomfortable because her usual GP is a female but the locum GP is a male. Yolander may have other sensitive issues she’d wish to discuss however because the locum GP is a male she may feel she cannot discuss it with him as it is embarrassing. The GP is directing all correspondents to Mrs Knightly

Yolander will feel excluded from the decisions being made about her health because the GP is mainly speaking to her mum rather than her. Yolander might also feel patronised and her anxiety might worsen. Yolander might also get upset because decisions are being made for her. Yolander is extremely anxious

Yolander might completely switch off and stop communicating because her anxiety is too much. Yolander might feel as if she had no choice with the decisions made about her health. Report

Whilst being in placement in an elderly home, I experienced barriers whilst trying to communicate and interact with the people living within the home. One occasion of when this has happened is when a blind resident called me to take her to the toilet urgently. The lady was shouting very loud and reaching out to get someone’s attention. As I didn’t have the training, I could not help to assist the lady to the toilet. This is a barrier because I was unable to help the lady.

Another barrier would be that the lady is blind; she might have been able to see where the staff were to get help to go to the toilet. There should have been more staff around to monitor the residents within the home so that the lady wouldn’t have to repeatedly shout to ask for someone whilst embarrassing herself in front of the rest of the residents. I dealt with the situation by going to find a member of staff who was trained, to assist the lady to the toilet. To avoid this situation again, the staff that work within the care home should make sure they watch and listen out for people for their needs, also whilst considering communication barriers such as a visual impairment.