One to One Communication

One to One Communication

To practice one to one communication I spoke to someone who regularly

attends the ‘Princess of Wales’ Hospital, Bridgend for physiotherapy

on his knee after an operation 6 months ago. From this interaction I

found that the service from the NHS was satisfactory and adequate, but

could use some improvements. I spoke to the patient mainly about

waiting times for appointments and operations, as that appeared to be

the main cause for concern. I conducted the one to one interaction in

the patient’s living room, so that the surroundings were familiar to

him and he would feel more at ease. As the room was decorated in warm

colours it created a welcoming and relaxed atmosphere, which

contributed to making it easier to open up and talk freely.

Skill Used

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Comment

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Body language

I used open and friendly body language towards the client and didn’t

cross my arms or anything so that I didn’t come across as

intimidating. This is because body language makes a great impact on

interaction.

Gestures

I regularly used hand gestures to put emphasis on what I was saying as

gestures are a strong part of effective communication.

Eye contact

I regularly maintained eye contact with the client during my

interaction. This helped to show that I was interested in what he had

to say and also so that he knew when it was his turn to speak.

Facial expressions

I used appropriate facial expressions to match my topic of

conversation so not to confuse the client, and to show interest in

what he had to say.

Open questions

Open questions require extended answers and make the client feel that

their opinions are valued. I tried to use mostly open questions to

facilitate the conversation and so that the conversation flowed and

did not feel like an interrogation.

Closed questions

I tried not to ask many closed questions, unless I needed more

specific information, as they can make people feel uncomfortable and

inhibit conversation.

Probes and prompts

I used probes and prompts to make the client give more in depth

information and to help him to think more about the subject that I was

questioning them on. I used prompts to help the client understand

what I was asking by suggesting a possible answer.

Paraphrasing

To check that I had heard and understood the client properly I used

paraphrasing as a way of reflecting back to him. Paraphrasing also

helped him to clarify exactly what it is they were saying, because he

had to listen to the paraphrase and work out whether that is what he

meant to say.

The particular individuals involved, the relationship between the

individuals, the subject of the communication and the physical