Communication Barriers

I became a Registered Practical Nure in 2003, prior to that I worked as a Personal Support Worker at a local nursing home. Over the past five years I have had much experience with stroke patients. If you are unaware some patient who have had a stroke have difficulty speaking, this is called dysphasia. Some patients have trouble speaking and others can not speak at all. This can prove difficult in providing care. In the nursing home setting staff get to know their patients. They are able to understand what it is a patient needs. There are assistive devices that can be used to assist with speech. Things like picture boards and word boards that the patient can point at to show what they need. If staff take the time, they can understand what the patient may want. The patient may get frustrated and anger, but if you take your time to reassure the patient it will all work out.