Janelle Health Case Study

Case Study: Janelle 

Introduction:

This essay will analyse the interactions between an Indigenous Australian woman, Janelle, and healthcare staff in a hospital. It will then analyse the interaction between the Aboriginal Liaison Officer and Janelle. Finally, the impact in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients health outcomes by miscommunication and lack of cultural sensitivity.

Interactions the receptionist and radiographer with Janelle:

Considering the importance of effective communication between patients and care providers, it is vital for workers in any healthcare facility to be aware of different communication styles. This ensures effective interaction between patients and the healthcare facility's employees, thus realising the best health care results. Basically, there are two main cultural communication; high context cultures and low context cultures. A culture of high context is dependent on non-verbal cues and indirect communication. In a high-context connection, an idea can’t be absorbed without a lot of information. On the contrary, the culture of low context depends on direct communication. In low-context communications, more information is clarified and defined in the message (Southeastern University, 2016).

In the case provided, the receptionist employs direct communication. This is because, in the course of interacting with Janelle, she speaks openly and expresses her opinions without hesitation. She expresses opinions and viewpoints in an insensitive way. For instance, she airs her feeling that Janelle looks like a European rather than an Aboriginal despite it being offensive to the client. Worse still, when Janelle tells her that she is actually not a European, the receptionist seems to believe it half-heartedly. Further, she speaks loudly and with a controlling voice (Gukwonderuk Unit, 2019). By communicating this way, she is taking full control of the interaction and the extra information Janelle may be willing to share appears to be of no value. This makes the client feel that she is not getting the desired attention. Therefore, these issues result in Aboriginal patients feeling indisposed, and unlikely to engage with health care or getting treatment (Lin, Green, & Bessarab, 2016).

On the other hand, the radiographer is a passive-aggressive communicator. It is another ineffective communication style involving the communicator to speak as though they do not care about something and being aggressive at the same time (Ntoumanis, Quested, Reeve, & Cheon, 2018). Just like in an aggressive communication style, passive-aggressive communicators speak in a demanding and loud voice while maintaining eye contact, thus controlling others by creating an intimidating environment. They are also likely to use body language. Also, The radiographer had indirect communication, he used facial expression and eye contact in the part of conversation.  

From the case study, the communication styles used by the receptionist, aggressive style, do not beat around the bush and thus saves everyone's time. On the contrary, the passive-aggressive style lacks clarity and may lead to miscommunication. Be it as it may, the aggressive and passive-aggressive styles of communication used by the receptionist and radiographer, respectively, are ineffective. This is because the two styles of communication did not promote effective communication practices, such as active listening. Active listening would have been a paramount aspect of communication since other than ensuring that the right information was exchanged. Effective communication and information channels Participation must be prepared, maintained and reviewed periodically to ensure that it is fit for purpose and appropriate to practice (Norton & Marks-Maran, 2014). It would have promoted empathy and rapport building. The receptionists and radiographer would have made Janelle feel more understood and appreciated had they listened to her actively without being racially insensitive. In summary, the main weakness of both  styles of communication is that they disconnect a service provider and the client, affecting their relationship, which may, in turn, hinder the cooperation. The importance of good collaboration between health care service providers and the clients can’t be overemphasised.