REFLECTION PAPER 1 -PROPOSAL

I was doing my internship for my bachelor of dentistry in 2017 in India. We were asked to handle the

outpatient department. It was my first time having to directly communicate with patients.

I could clearly remember the day when we were short-staffed and had to deal with a lot of

patients at a time. Due to this, we were asked to call and inform all the patients about getting their blood work

done one day prior to the treatment from outside. Being from a different state in India I was having difficulty

communicating in their local language. I remember contacting the particular patient he was old but it can be

due to the communication barrier that he called the hospital administration and started shouting telling them

how people in the department “were negligent and not taking up his case”. I tried to contact him and explain

how the department has to follow protocols and how we were helpless in that situation but he was not willing

to understand the situation. This particular scenario helped me realize the importance of communication in

healthcare.

FOUR communication barriers were identified in the above scenario

1 LANGUAGE BARRIER It can be due to the difference in a language that he couldn’t understand my message

properly

2 Environment Communicating in a hospital setting and dealing with a lot of noise could also have caused

a misunderstanding

3 DEVELOPMENTAL LEVEL Communicating with different age groups. I should have been aware of the

difference.

4 DISTANCE Not meeting in person could also have caused the misunderstanding

ARUNIMA THAZHAVEEDU
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