Assignment: Nursing Nonverbal Communication
Some cultures dictate that doctors protect patients from the emotional and physical harm caused by directly addressing death and end-of-life care. Many Asian and American Indian cultures value beneficence (physician’s obligation to promote patient welfare) by encouraging the patient’s hope, even in the face of terminal illness (Searight & Gafford, 2005). Emotional reaction to news of serious illness may be considered to be directly harmful to health. It is thought that a patient who is already in pain should not have to struggle with depression or stress as well. This negative emotional impact on health appears to be one of the primary reasons Chinese patients are less likely to sign do not resuscitate (DNR) orders (Searight & Gafford, 2005). This concern, together with Asian values of admiration for the elderly, may be especially pronounced in senior patients who, because of their frailty, are perceived to be more vulnerable to being upset by bad news. In addition, the special status of the elderly in Asian cultures includes a value that they should not be burdened unnecessarily when they are ill.
Direct disclosure of bad health news may eliminate patient hope. Bosnian respondents indicated that they expected physicians to maintain patients’ optimism by not revealing terminal diagnoses (Searight & Gafford, 2005). Filipino patients may not want to discuss end-of-life care because these exchanges demonstrate a lack of respect for the belief that individual fate is determined by God (Searight & Gafford, 2005). American Indian, Filipino, and Bosnian cultures emphasize that words should be carefully chosen because when they are spoken they may become a reality (Searight & Gafford, 2005). Carrese and Rhodes (1995) noted that Navajo informants place a particularly high value on thinking and speaking in a “ positive way.” About one half of their Navajo informants would not even discuss advance directives or anticipated therapeutic support status with patients because these discussions were considered to be potentially injurious.
Nonverbal Communication Communication is more than just words, and much information is conveyed nonverbally. Our system of nonverbal communication includes gestures, posture, silence, spatial relations, emotional expression, touch, and physical appearance (LeBaron, 2003).
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.
Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.
Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.
The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.