Community Essay Assignment
Community work is an integral part of the health sector. A healthcare worker should have the necessary skill to tackle problems encountered in the field. Also, community work helps a healthcare worker to develop problem-solving skills due to the different hurdles faced. During my community work service, I encountered several obstacles which developed my working skills.
The first hurdle I encountered is the preceptors who are not trained teachers. Preceptors are expected to give instructions to young medical students and guide them when solving practical problems. Therefore, preceptors should be adequately trained on how to teach and supervise medical students. The preceptors I encountered work well, but they did not possess practical teaching skills. For instance, the preceptors always rushed into guiding the students before offering a theoretical reason behind some approaches. Also, some preceptors had poor communication skills, which prevented effective communication between preceptors and students. Since preceptors are vital when it comes to learning practical work, I learned to show my sincerity to learn. Although the preceptors are not trained teachers, they have immense work experiences that can be applied in practical situations. Furthermore, I learned how to communicate in different situations to avoid ambiguity when learning from preceptors.
The second hurdle was the language barrier. Most residents I encountered are mainly in their 80s and 90s. Furthermore, most residents were immigrants, and they did not speak English. Therefore, there was a massive language barrier between healthcare officials and the residents. In line with Squires (2018), patients with language barriers change how nurses work and organize patient care. Delivering quality care is easy when the communication between a patient and a healthcare worker is clear. However, when a patient and a healthcare worker cannot understand each other, delivering quality services becomes a challenge. I had to learn the language of the residents. I looked up translations on the internet and wrote down common terms to enable communication with the residents. Also, I learned from the preceptors how to use models and diagrams to boost the basic knowledge I had of the new language. Social interactions with the residents enabled me to learn the new language faster because I would listen to conversations and participate. As some residents were reminiscing, they told me stories in their language and interpreted some words to English. As I learned the new language, I learned how to interact with residents socially. Apart from receiving adequate medical care, residents also require to socialize and make new friends (Meuter et al., 2015). At present, I can mingle with patients easily, establish a friendly environment, and diagnose a patient in a hospitable environment.
The third hurdle I encountered was our presence as students threatening personal support workers. Ideally, personal support workers provide personal care to the elderly and sick people. Nurses also perform similar duties, but at a professional level. The personal support workers we encountered felt threatened by our presence, fearing that we would take their jobs. Therefore, most of the workers were reluctant to teach and guide because they felt threatened. Interactions with personal support workers were vital because they understand the language, both verbal and non-verbal, used by the residents. Also, they understood how to give quality care to the residents. Since the personal support workers are vital, I became kind and friendly to the workers. I also established that our interaction was a learning experience and not a competition. I gained skills on how to develop a working rapport between workers of all levels in healthcare.
In conclusion, my experience in community work exposed me to many hurdles. In return, I learned how to solve different problems and to develop my practical skills. I look forward to practicing my new skills in a working environment.
References
Squires, A. (2018). Strategies for overcoming language barriers in healthcare. Nursing management, 49(4), 20-27.
Meuter, R. F., Gallois, C., Segalowitz, N. S., Ryder, A. G., & Hocking, J. (2015). Overcoming language barriers in healthcare: a protocol for investigating safe and effective communication when patients or clinicians use a second language. BMC health services research, 15(1), 371.