How to write a nursing essay reflection on Ageing Biases

How to write a nursing essay reflection on Ageing Biases

Part 1: Reflection

Using effective communication skills is critical in maintaining a healthy work environment through collaboration with other healthcare disciplines. It is equally significant in maintaining patient satisfaction through improved patient care. This is because nurses who actively listen to and understand patients’ concerns are well equipped to address their issues as they come up. On the flip side, poor communication as influenced by communication barriers can cause misunderstandings leading to failed adherence to treatment protocols and impaired workflow.

The discussion on how various factors affect my comfort in patient communication has changed my perception of patient communication. Most factors were established to affect patients more than nurses. Noteworthy, each party’s comfort level significantly contributes to the level of effective communication between the two. As such, these factors should be addressed fully among healthcare providers and patients.

From the discussion, age differences affect patient-nurse communication. This was evident in most studies conducted in different countries and was attributed to the generational gap. Different age groups share different health beliefs and their perceptions of diseases Norouzinia et al. (2017). As a nurse, I will do my best to familiarize myself with these beliefs among every age group. By doing so, I will communicate with patients at their level and understand them better.

Racial and cultural differences are also significant contributors to barriers in patient-nurse communication. This is particularly evident in first-world countries with high numbers of immigrants in the workforce. Certain stereotypes on racial and cultural backgrounds lead to discrimination of members of a minority race and cultural backgrounds. First, I will read on and explore different cultures to eliminate the existing stereotypes. I will also not let stereotypes influence my decisions on patient communication. Being open-minded, non-judgmental, and accommodative will alleviate my patients; anxiety and discomfort and promote honesty and openness during our communication. I will also treat all my patients with dignity, despite their background or race. I will do my best to make the minority groups feel accepted and valued by not disregarding them.

Regarding gender differences, I will respect patients’ preferences. At the same time, if they are not comfortable with my gender communicating with them, I will let them know that whatever they share will still be confidential, and I will treat them professionally. Some cases of gender preferences are cultural, and as a nurse, I can’t do much to change that. Therefore, I will respect and value every patient’s culture. For example, patients of the Islamic religion prefer being treated by the same gender, and I would understand this and respect it.

Part 2: Ageing biases I have witnessed and perpetrated

Throughout my clinical practice and even when growing up, I have witnessed several instances of aging biases. One of the growing concerns regarding ageism is the negative attitudes most people have towards older adults. I noticed that young nurses particularly do not like to interact with older adults. As a result, they were tended to by older nurses who were more comfortable and seemed to understand them better. Young nurses had certain expectations of their patients, such as good health-seeking behavior. However, this was not the case among most older adults, and this seemed to be a serious concern that frustrated the nurses. These frustrations ended up having a negative impact on their communication throughout. I have also perpetrated this act by demonstrating impatience when collecting history from an elderly individual. The old had slurred speech, and I was not patient enough to sit with him and collect accurate information. I should have demonstrated more patience and understanding towards him.

Part 3: Community education plan to address aging bias

Evaluating readiness to learn

Evaluation of learners’ readiness is significant in establishing how well the learners are equipped to learn. This considers the circumstances and the learning environment. Difficult personal circumstances in life, low emotional and physical maturity, external distractions, and personal barriers contribute to low readiness to learn. Even those with medium interest in learning need extra motivation to improve learning readiness. Learners who demonstrate high interest and readiness to learn are less likely to be affected by external distractions or personal barriers.

One of the factors to consider when evaluating learners’ readiness is experiential factors. A learner’s willingness to take in new information is dependent on their past coping mechanisms, cultural background, and degree of inspiration (McCarthy, 2016). A history of how patients from minority backgrounds have been treated in the hospitals will help establish learners’ readiness to learn. Demonstrating a rebellious attitude towards acts of injustice and undignified treatment will indicate that they are ready to tackle these communication barriers. Also, raising such concerns on the social media platform, particularly among the youths, is a significant indicator of readiness to learn. Additionally, those who have experienced the mentioned communication barriers would be ready to learn and inspire others to do so too.

Learning theory applied

This teaching plan will utilize experimental learning theory. The theory involves acquiring new information from the transformation of experience. McCarthy (2016) suggests that knowledge results from a combination of grasping and transforming experience. Learners are more likely to retain information that they are familiar with, which is achieved through past experiences. According to McCarthy (2016), this learning theory is particularly applicable among adult learners since they have more life experience compared to lower age groups. Experiential learning theory will be relevant in this teaching plan since the main topic is how patients have been treated in the past. Thus, a collection of their patient-nurse communication experiences with healthcare providers is a basis for learning. I will apply this theory by directly involving learners in role-playing and practicing patient-nurse conversations.

Goal

This teaching plan aims to eliminate socio-cultural stereotypes that impede patient-nurse communication and promote healthy and dignified patient-nurse communication in healthcare settings.

Objectives

Objective

and Domain

1.Learners will describe the common stereotypes related to gender, age, racial, and cultural backgrounds that contribute to poor patient-nurse communication. (Cognitive Domain)

 Content 

1.Common stereotype related to gender is that male nurses are more gentle and accommodative compared to female nurses.

Another stereotype related to age is that interacting with older patients is more difficult compared to the younger ones. And that older nurses are more patient and understanding than younger ones. Minority races and cultures experience discrimination in various fields, including healthcare.

 

 Strategies/Methods

1.This information will be delivered through the lecture method. A whiteboard will be used to highlight the main points, and learners will note down the important points.
2. Learners will identify factual information to counteract the stereotypes. (Cognitive Domain)

 

 

 

 

 2. Learning facts about particular stereotypic information increases one’s knowledge and awareness, thus mitigating discrimination and disrespectful treatment of minority individuals due to stereotypes. 2. This information will be delivered through the lecture method. A whiteboard will be used to highlight the main points, and learners will note down the important points.
3.Learners will act out routine/ normal patient-nurse conversations. (Psychomotor and cognitive Domains)

 

 

 

 3. Acting out effective communication skills that demonstrate value and respect for the recipient allows the learners to immediately apply the content they learned to factual information about different categories of commonly stereotyped people. 3.The instructor will guide the learners on what topics to role-play and award points to each group. Learners will assume the role of different characters in each play so that everyone grasps the concept.

Outcome Evaluation

I will do an outcome evaluation to determine the success of the teaching program by measuring the results achieved by the objectives. I will evaluate the first and second objectives through simple questionnaires.  Questionnaires are an effective way of collecting meaningful information from a relatively large population for evaluation. I will evaluate learners’ knowledge of the stereotypes and the associated facts through these questionnaires. Additionally, I will perform oral interviews also to evaluate their knowledge on factual information regarding the stereotypes. I will also assess their communication skills and the use of appropriate body language during role-playing. This evaluation will equally assess their psychomotor skills when using gestures and appropriate body language during patient-nurse communication.

 Potential barriers to teaching

 One of the most eminent barriers to teaching is a lack of motivation. The level of motivation influences the program outcomes. Unmotivated learners often have poor outcomes due to poor information retention (Mantai & Huber, 2021). To address this, I will provide positive reinforcement during classes and when providing feedback, especially after role-playing. Also, I will provide timely feedback to ensure the immediate application of knowledge before it disintegrates.

Another potential barrier is poor emotional health. This can affect learning in instances where one’s confidence and self-esteem are affected (Mantai & Huber, 2021). Lack of confidence affects the degree of learner participation in classroom activities such as role-playing. To address this, I will set learning goals and expectations together with the learners so that they are manageable for all learners.

Therapeutic communication during teaching

The method of my presentation delivery will significantly affect the learners’ concentration and knowledge retention during the course. I will begin my presentation with a captivating story of how communication barriers negatively impact healthcare delivery and patient satisfaction. During the presentations, I will use the question and answer technique to maintain the learners’ concentration and promote active interaction. I will also apply active listening during evaluation and feedback, integrating relevant body language and facial expressions throughout. To emphasize the content and ensure learners’ understanding, I will provide recaps at the end of my presentations.

References

Mantai, L., & Huber, E. (2021). Networked Teaching: Overcoming the Barriers to Teaching Experiential Learning in Large Classes. Journal of Management Education, 1052562920984506.

McCarthy, M. (2016). Experiential learning theory: From theory to practice. Journal of Business & Economics Research (JBER), 14(3), 91-100.

Norouzinia, R., Aghabarari, M., Shiri, M., Karimi, M., & Samami, E. (2016). Communication barriers perceived by nurses and patients. Global journal of health science, 8(6), 65.

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