Miscommunication Is Easy
Another night in the ER…
I worked in the ER waiting room recently, and it was rough for everyone. Our ER was busy that day, and some patients had been in the waiting room for more than 24 hours. They’d been seen by a provider, had their vitals checked, blood taken, and CT scans done, but were stuck in limbo waiting for a room where they could continue their care, get their results and get either discharged or admitted.
Days like that, which happen often, are stressful for the patients and the staff. Everyone gets understandably grumpy.
I was working with one of the nurses doing reassessments- I was checking vitals on everyone waiting for a room and the nurse was checking if they had more orders or had anything new that was concerning. Every single person that we called up asked us how much longer- which is not an answer we can give because there is no way to know.
One person asked us how long it would take for her to get her lab results. The nurse explained that she cannot go over her results, a provider would have to do that. The patient then asked how long it would take to get her lab results. Like, the exact same way she had already asked. I could tell that the nurse was frustrated because she answered that question already, but I think there was a miscommunication between them. The patient wanted to know when she would get them, the nurse answered who can give them, and I don’t think the patient understood that the nurse didn’t know when she would get her results, which had been implied in her answer.
Later in the night, someone came up to me and asked me for a blanket. His face was twitching as he asked. I explained that we were out of blankets but could give him a sheet. As I grabbed it I joked about taking whatever you can get, to which he replied “okay f*ck you too,” before taking it and walking away.
What do you think happened in that last encounter? There’s no way to tell of course. I thought about it for a little bit, and took a guess. He may have had either mental health issues and/ or drug abuse issues which could have caused his facial twitching. Due to those issues, he may have been homeless and misinterpreted my joke as making fun of him for not having possessions. The joke I said was meant was a way to be sympathetic to how cold it was in the ER, but he may have also interpreted my joke as me holding power over him to provide for his needs in any way that I saw fit. Or maybe I looked into this encounter too deeply as he may have just been angry that I only had sheets and no blankets.
Miscommunication happens all of the time, not just in healthcare. I think we need to step outside of ourselves a bit to understand what someone else is saying, because they may not communicate as well as we would like. We also need to understand how our past experiences and cultures and the past experiences and cultures of the person we are communicating with may affect the conversation we are having.
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