Empathy

On a neurology placement at the moment there are patients who attend physio who have had a stroke and as a result have expressive and / or receptive dysphasia. We learnt about this at uni, but when we did it seemed more like an idea or concept than something that is actually real. When I first began treating a dysphasic patient it took me a little while to actually even realise the person had a language impairment as I was focussing more on the physical limitations and impairments. After realising the patient was dysphasic it was quite a challenge to work out the best way to communicate with them. Three weeks into the placement this has become easier by getting to know patients and through this gaining some degree of an idea about how much they can understand and how much they can express themselves accurately and by asking questions that give the patient options such as “Is your shoulder sore?” “Do you have pain in your shoulder?” Is your shoulder ok?” and looking for consistency with yes / no answers. However I still find it challenging subjectively assess patients who are dysphasic as they can not describe things including their pain.

Last week I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to observe a speech therapy treatment session of a patient who has expressive and receptive dysphasia. During the session the patient was re-learning the ability to understand and make sense of a shopping receipt. I don’t feel my communication skills with patients who have dysphasia has improved as a result of observing this session, but I definitely did develop some empathy for the people who have this with regards to the huge challenge they face when communicating. It seems to me as if it would be similar to being spoken to in a foreign language, having to communicate in this foreign language and then having to write with your non-dominant hand! Talk about everything being out of your comfort zone! How exhausting! This abstract concept we learnt about actually became concrete for me.