Chapter 11

One thing I found very interesting about health care communication ethics was the difference between hope and optimism. I always thought of these concepts as the same, but this book elaborates a lot on how they are different which I found very interesting. I always strive to be as optimistic as possible but this book really sheds light on why that sometimes is not good. "the demand of optimism is expectation"(192). With constantly having high expectations for any aspect of life you end up being disappointed some of the time when you do not reach those expectations. With this being said sometimes it is better to have hope where you are hoping for the best, but also preparing for the worst.

One memory that stuck in my mind when reading this chapter was my uncle. He passed away from cancer about 8 years ago. "Optimism fades when faced with the reality that life does not grant one's demand"(192). Early on in his process of overcoming this disease I was very optimistic about what the future would hold for my uncle and that he would make a full recovery. When things started to turn for the worst, my optimism started to fade and was met with the harsh reality of the situation and that my expectations were not going to be met. After this I started to become more hopeful of the situation, hoping and praying for the best but also preparing for the worst.

When discussing hope, responsiveness was another topic that was very important. It's good to take care of yourself and your health but its also important to take care of others and be responsive to their needs. An important quality that makes us human is empathy towards one another. When helping others to the best of your ability it allows you to be more hopeful towards the situation that is happening. One thing I do as an example for responsiveness is asking my friends how they are doing and giving good advice to help them in their time of need whether it be small or big things affecting their life.

Health care

Health care communication ethics is "the study of communication practices within the broad domain of health care, from patient/professional interaction to institutional communication questions about health" (192). In other words, health care communication is looking at how people in the medical field navigate and interact with people in the workplace and clients. The main point of the health care system is to provide assistance or care to someone in need. However, depending on the culture, the health care system can be very different amongst different groups of people. In addition, care has a variety of meanings and many people will view what it means to be caring differently. In other words, culture is a big factor when looking at health care systems and why they are set up a certain way.

Next, with the variety of health care systems in the world, the variations of what care is are endless. For example, in a lot of European countries, a universal health care system is a popular system that seems to work well. However, in the U.S. the health care system is set up much differently and people have to pay for health insurance or have a very big bill. When one considers all the cultural factors would it be possible for the U.S. to have a universal health care system like Europe? Typically speaking, in the U.S. people define care as providing some form of assistance to another person. However, a lot of people are against a universal health care system because they don't want taxes to go up. It is ironic that people see money as something that is more important than someone's health and possibly their own health. When looking at American culture, money is an important and valuable aspect that many people see as a status symbol. Hence, the characteristics of the U.S. culture display why the health care system is the way it is, not eliminating the fact that it could change. Finally, culture is a large factor that contributes to health care systems along with peoples values within that culture. The important thing to remember is that a lot can be learned by studying other cultures and a lot of knowledge can be gained.   

Chapter 11 Health Care Communication Ethics

I lost a good friend almost one year ago to cancer.  She suffered from "the monster" a nuero-blastoma brain cancer that was difficult to treat and even if successfully thwarted 99% of time reoccurred or too the patients life during treatment by slowly suffocating the brain.  She was 49 when she died and she was a mom of 4, 2 boys and 2 girls.

The part of the book's chapter that spoke the most to me was the passage on Technique to Tenacity.  The book spoke of the labor of care in the the middle of frustration, pain, fatigue and finding an engine that could do all of the care.  That you have to find your "why".

That spoke to me the most, because on almost every one of my visits with Shelly she would ask me "Why I was here with her, and not with my own family?" At first I was offended, "I am here because you are my friend. I love you."  She would respond with "Well you are my sister's friend first, not mine." Which was true, her sister Melissa is one of my closest friends in the world, and I only knew Shelly because of Melis.

Then when she would ask I would answer honestly, "I am only doing what I hope someone would do for me Shel."  Which again was true, I am also a mom to 4, 2 boys and 2 girls, what made Shelly any different from me?  Why her and not me?  There wasn't answer that made sense.

The "tenacity of care" that Shelly's family developed was incredible,  There was not going to ever be a sufficient answer to the why or how could this have happened, so we moved into care giving mode, They work on the why and care giving was balanced on the ultimate question of how?  How will we live without her?  How will the kids always know her love?  How will we all as a group encourage her to go when the time comes and not be selfish with the desire for her to not leave, because all of us agreed that it was too soon.

The book spoke of "sometimes this sense of "why" comes from theories and ideas, but most often it comes from a human face that reminds us of the importance of finding the tenacity to meet the demands before us."  Taking care of Shelly over 16 months and being there for the goodbye and farewell meant we needed tenacity, courage and honesty.  Never once did we speak of events in the distant future and say things like "You will be there." Not one time did we speak of her in the past tense while she was still here.

The book speaks of health care communication ethics being a place where you are in the darkness and there seems no light yet, in the "just doing" you have a sense of health and hope that life could go on after the loss.  I spent every weekend with Shelly and that light of feeling like we left nothing unsaid and we didn't focus on the inevitable and just enjoyed the day we had in front of us keeps me happy today, it was the outcome we expected with the communication that was needed to make life livable again.

11/18/15 Provost Email

                I am currently in a student group that focuses heavily on social justice related problems within the world, but even more specifically in Minneapolis. This group has made me see power holders more critically, but it has also made me realize that people in power do what they have to do in order to maintain that power. I have definitely seen this power struggle in the university provost’s latest email. There are still problems with serious racism running rampant in the world, and the recent events in Missouri sparked up another conversation. Students on campus were outrage and organized themselves in order to show support for other students across the country. This was all fine until the university saw this as a problem they didn’t plan for. Naturally, an email is sent out trying to get power back.

                First, the provost tries to show her support for students on behalf of the entire university staff, but having this email sent out must have angered people who tried to organize themselves without the university’s help. She used language like “held useful conversations” and “an obligation to address this problem.” This was all fine, but it definitely made it feel like student protests were burdening the university. In the textbook in the chapter about organizational communication ethics there is a passage that reads, “The uninformed member simply does not know enough about the organization’s missions and purpose to articulate them to self or others (142).” In relation to this, I think the university believed that students were completely oblivious to what the university needed. To an extent this may be true, but the email sent out was worded in such a way that made students seem like an entity that needs to be contained. Hence why the university set up very specific meeting places and times to talk about the universal problem. It was a very interesting approach to the recent events, and I’m not quite sure that the students within this university appreciated being contained on an issue they feel so passionately about.

Chapter 11: Health Care Communication Ethics

Health care communication ethics is a notion of communication that is not commonly thought of in our everyday lives. For me, at least, I have never truly thought about the way health care professionals communicate. In reading chapter 11 of our textbook, however, I have realized that the way health care professionals interact with patients is incredibly important. On page 198 of the textbook there is a quote that I think is crucial to this topic. “…for all of us when existence simply reminds us that in such moments our final freedom rests with how we respond.” This really hits home the idea that health can be a scary thing, but mindset helps us get through it. Health care providers have to constantly maintain the “good” that is care. They need to care for their patients both physically and mentally. A person may not able to control what their body is doing, but they can control how they think about it. Illness can be devastating, but having doctors, nurses, and family that take care of your mental well-being can make illness easier to get through.

                Right after I was born my grandma died at the age of 47.  She had cancer for seven years, and it finally took its toll on her. My mom was 21 at the time, and she had seen it coming for years, but she still couldn’t handle it well. She never anticipated that when she had her first kid she wouldn’t have her mom there to help her. However, my grandma had a positive mindset throughout the entire process. Even though she knew it wouldn’t end well, her doctors and family kept a positive mindset in hopes that this would help her get through this with less mental pain. For ethics in health care communication the notion that “No matter what meets us—whether joy, sadness, or sorrow—the human being has one final freedom: our response (198).” This was so true for my family, and I can tell that a positive response helped my family get through it.

Provost's Email

What I thought was interesting about the Provost’s email is that it talked a great deal about recent events, yet no event was specifically mentioned by name. I personally feel like this is an ineffective communication tactic; in order to support or decry something, I feel it needs to be mentioned by name so the audience can clearly understand the message. The email felt more of an obligation than a sincere attempt to reconcile students with the events of Jamal Clark’s shooting, Syrian Refugees, Missouri University’s racist practices and the terrorist attacks in Paris.

The email goes on to state that the University has “an obligation to address these problems, openly, respectfully, and together” yet, these problems are not being addressed. Since the email was sent on November 18, there has been no follow-up, nothing communicating what has been or is planned on being done by the University to effectively address the University’s stance.

Lastly, I find it ironic that the email states “we all want the world to be a better place,” but it doesn’t describe what that entails. Those opposed to refugees, those who consistently supported racism at the University of Missouri, the cops who unapologetically racially profile and shoot people and so forth, don’t they also commit these actions because they too “want the world to be a better place?” I believe that communication ethics literacy is best represented with a clear message, about a clear subject with clear intentions of the good at hand.

Healthcare Communication Ethics

The most striking part of this chapter for me comes from a labor of care. The authors say that “the labor of care require[s] admission of the illness” and that “it takes engagement of the labor of care to admit illness and then to take proper action” (Arnett, Fritz, and Bell, P 201). Since the labor of care is defined as the necessity of one’s identity, it is interesting to see that to effectively communicate one must first be true to oneself, as it is only then that one is capable of organically communicating with another.

The past couple of weeks have been extremely challenging for me, not only because of the stress of balancing school, work and married life, but also health wise. As a result I had to make the decision to skip a blog post and a response, making me lose 3 points. This is of course not ideal, but it was a necessity for me. I had to admit to myself that my health had to come first, and in order for me to be successful in the future I had to make sacrifices now. This was also an admission that led me to communicate more effectively by missing those assignments. If I had done those assignments in the state I was in, they would have been valueless, and would not have contributed to the thread we have been working on for months.