pleasure of interviewing Steven Nguyen

pleasure of interviewing Steven Nguyen

19059756

I have had the pleasure of interviewing Steven Nguyen, a physiotherapist whom works at both Fairfield and Braeside hospital. As a health science student studying communication in health, I have gained a thorough understanding of the course content, thus allowing myself to discuss the necessities of communication with the health professional. Throughout the process of the interview, I had asked a variety of question types, enabling myself to acquire a further insight about the diverse communicative skills required when interacting with clients in the health related environment. This essay is a reflection on the process of the interview, specifically about the analysis of communication techniques and a reflection of self awareness through the Johari Window model.

During the course of my interview with the health professional, Steven Nguyen and I were able to effectively exchange information through the utilisation of verbal communication skills. Throughout the interview, I was able to observe Steven’s verbal communication skills as he demonstrated choice of language and sentence structure. Kourkouta and Papathanasiou (2014) states that the choice of language and the way in which the information is being presented significantly impacts a client’s satisfaction of being cared for. Additionally, in a recent study Howard, Jacobson, and Kripalani (2013) suggested that health professionals must deliver information suitable to the patient’s level of understanding to prevent them from feeling bombarded with technical health terminologies. Thus, verbal communicative skills play a huge role towards a patient’s wellbeing and sense of satisfaction.

Similarly, non-verbal communication skills such as hand gestures and eye contact were also expressed by Steven throughout his responses. During the interview, the health professional demonstrated effective hand movements during discourse, this compliments the spoken words as it enhances the clarity of the text itself and enables an easier understanding of the information being delivered (Burgoon, Guerrero, & Floyd, 2016). In another study, Montague, Chen, Xu, Chewning and Barrett (2013) further reinforces the importance of hand gestures whilst speaking as it can make the conversation more engaging. Also, during the interview Steven had discussed and displayed the necessities of eye contact when speaking with patients. Montague et al. (2007) suggests that eye contact from a health professional enhances your engagement in the conversation as it displays empathy, trust and builds rapport. Moreover, it is conspicuous to utilize hand gestures and display eye contact when interacting with patients as it is essential to a therapeutic health professional-patient relationship.

In addition to the non-verbal cues of communication, when I was probing questions about communicative skills in his workplace, I was able to identify Steven’s active listening skills. Weger, Castle, Minei, and Robinson (2014) stated that active listening enacts recognition of the patient’s distress, hence provides the patient with a sense of comfort as it shows involvement. Furthermore, active listening involves the therapeutic use of silence whereby non verbal cues of facial expressions and head nods signify a sense of interest towards the client and allows them to feel more understood (Moss, 2017). Therefore, it can be seen that demonstrating active listening skills during discourse with a patient enables conversational satisfaction.

It is through the effective executions of different communicative skill types, whereby enhanced the interaction of the interview. My advantageous skills of verbal communication, facial expression and active listening were strengths which I demonstrated throughout the interview. When interviewing the health professional, I was able display my verbal communication skills by asking questions formally with a slightly serious tone. I believe this has been beneficial towards the interview process as it initiates the conversation into a more serious discussion. Also, when Steven was responding to my questions, I was able to express my interest through facial expressions by slightly squinting my eyes and nodding my head. By doing this, it has shown to Steven that I was listening actively and he was able to express his ideologies with me more comfortably as I was denoting my interest towards his responses. Nevertheless, despite the advantageous skills which I displayed during the interview, I needed to improve on my eye contact, reflecting and clarifying. I experienced difficulties holding eye contact with Steven during the interview as I was nervous and have not interviewed anyone before. Also, I stumbled when attempting to reflect and clarify Steven’s responses, so this made me feel uncomfortable and I momentarily forgot what to say. In correlation to my self reflection, the Johari Window model has been useful towards facilitating my personal growth. Based on the model, I must self disclose myself to reduce the hidden area, which is the area in which is known to myself but not to others. Additionally, I must acquire constructive feedback and receive honest opinions from others to develop a better understanding of myself. Hence, it is conspicuous to me that I must practice these communicative skills by self disclosing myself and asking for constructive feedback, to enhance my relationship with patients in the future.