Communication Barriers

Communication is the basis of any medical professionals’ life. Without proper communication out patients lives can be lost. Recently, I got the opportunity to gain some training on another floor. The patient has a tracheotomy and is a quadriplegic. She was unable to communicate with anyone as she had very limited use of her arms. She was also unable to speak. She was getting very frustrated with herself and me, as I could not understand anything that she tried to mouth to me. At one point that day, I got so frustrated that I asked another nurse to answer the bells for that room, as I was unable to understand her. Later that day, her mom came into visit and noticed the difficulty I was having. She then showed me how she communicates with her daughter. She showed me the tools she used. She used letter board and her daughters’ eyes. For yes, she blinked her yes once and for no, she blinked twice. The day turned around from there. I was now able to communicate with her.
If I were to run into this situation again, I would know what tools are out there to use. I would not get so frustrated with myself but look at other creative ways to communicate.