Rise and Shout

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A surprising amount of nursing work requires communication. So when I can't communicate with my patient (usually because of language barriers or hearing issues, but sometimes because of poor cognition), it feels like my job becomes twice as difficult. Out of the 3 potential scenarios mentioned, I prefer getting a hearing-impaired patient. As long as I don't have laryngitis, I can voice (haha, pun intended) my instructions, teaching, etc. by shouting.
So for the past 3 days, I've been shouting to talk to my nearly-deaf patient. It's been a bit tricky, because I can't go into his room without donning the isolation gown/mask/gloves, so I have to shout even louder so that he can hear me from the door. A couple of times, my co-workers heard me and thought a patient was calling out for help.
Nope. Just me. Yelling.
Totally normal.
I've experienced a similar situation before. Hearing-impaired old man, on isolation...except this one had a little bit of dementia, and shouted back. At one point, while I'm gowning up just outside his door, he starts yelling out for his nurse (which would be me), and so I shout back, "MR. _____, I'M right here!" Turns out a family member of another patient heard the exchange, and reported to my boss that he didn't want me to take care of his mother ever. Thank goodness my boss had personally witnessed just how deaf my patient was, so I avoided a reprimand.

I shared this story with a fellow nurse, and she and I started creating a hypothetical situation where the healthcare professional team has to communicate to a nearly-deaf patient that his illness was terminal.
"SIR, YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!"
"WE HAVE DONE ALL WE COULD!"

Definitely morbid, but we live in a morbid world. And that's how nurses explore sensitive topics.

Our best attempts at communication can still be so inadequate. How do you convey sympathy while shouting? How do you not sound angry or super-excited? Do you even try to have small talk? CAN ONE EVEN HAVE SMALL TALK WHILE USING UPPERCASE LETTERS?
The world may never know.

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