Discussion Board-Handling Challenges

Discussion

Success as a public health professional requires teamwork and collaboration.

Take this communication self-assessment: Completed- Results below:

Part A: Using your past experience (pharmacy technician), what communication challenges have you encountered? How did you handle the situation(s) and what did you learn from them? Be sure to answer these questions. 1 page AMA format

Part B: Respond to the 2 classmates below providing communication tips for the challenges they mentioned. ½-1 page AMA format for each response post

Perez-

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After completing the Interpersonal Communication Skills Test, I learned that I fall under the category of insightfulness.1 For the past two months I volunteered at a non-profit organization that involves working with horses and individuals with disability. I encountered challenges. The challenge has to do with the lack of communication between the riders and volunteer. For example, the riders are individuals with disability. I gave verbal instructions to the riders to steer the horses. Sometimes, the riders listened to me and other times I was ignored. 

To handle the challenge, I used nonverbal cues with my hands to show the riders how to steer and control horses. I did notice an improvement that the riders began to steer the horses correctly. It takes patience and knowing the body language of the riders to help get through the day. So far, I have encountered a diverse work environment with a diverse team of volunteers, to accomplish one goal: ensure safety for the riders.2 In the process, the riders learned new skills to become more independent despite having a disability.3  

Kirchick-

After completing the self-assessment I scored very high (96%) on insightfulness.1 The strengths of having this skill in communication includes being able to empathize with others and doing your best to put yourself in “other people’s shoes in order to better understand them.”1 As a nurse, it is heartening to know that I am scoring on the higher end of insightfulness as this form of communication is extremely important in building trust, giving care, and having effective communication with patients.

My lowest score (after purchasing the full report) was in verbal expression (44%). This result perplexed me in some ways and then not in others. In public speaking or giving presentations, I have received strong evaluations from both peers and attendees. However, 1:1 with some people, I do find I have a hard time conveying my messages, get lost, or ramble. I would think this does tie in to insightfulness in some ways. For example, if I get the sense someone isn’t listening, doesn’t appear engaged in my conversation or seems overly critical or impatient, I can sort of lose my place.

Question: How did you handle the situation(s) and what did you learn from them?

In the above scenario I have sometimes had to assert my talking points or be straightforward and ask the listener in a polite way if my points or making sense or if I need to clarify my position. There have been times when I just felt like I became more awkward and tried to just end the conversation as soon as possible.

What is important to consider is that most communication and the way in which messages are communication is mostly nonverbal. A recent article by Hall et al. notes that “The field of nonverbal communication (NVC) has a long history involving many cue modalities, including face, voice, body, touch, and interpersonal space; different levels of analysis, including normative, group, and individual differences; and many substantive themes that cross from psychology into other disciplines.”2

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