Tag Archives: Communication

#SigningSaturday – the story so far…

 

…and so it began!

I can’t remember exactly how it all came about to be perfectly honest, other than it all started in November 2016 during one of my feature weeks, that of #EandDWeek (Equality & Diversity) when I was tweeting about deaf awareness. I came across the #getthenationsigning hashtag and decided to combine it with another passion of mine, that of #hellomynameis and do my bit! It wasn’t until Christmas, several weeks later that I decided to go public with another attempt at signing…

…and then along came New Year…

It was after these few humble attempts at signing that I decided i’d like to create a regular slot and hence came the first #SigningSaturday thought i’d ask ‘how are you?‘

However, it was then time for my annual January holidays (in Tenerife), but I wasn’t going to let that get in the way…

I just had to say that ‘I’m learning BSL and ask what’s your name?‘

When the holiday was over, the signing continued with me attempting to learn at least one or two new signs each week, beginning with my attempt to introduce myself and say what I am (a radiographer – though i’d hope you all know that by now)…

…and then to ask ‘Can I help you?‘

…before needing to tell you that ‘I love giraffes!‘ (who doesn’t?!)

Then came the #hotfingers challenge and my attempt at signing the finger alphabet…

…and finally, it was the weekend, I wasn’t working and it was time for me to relax..

 

And there you have it #SigningSaturday – the story so far!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my attempts/efforts call them what you will…but please be polite! 🙂 I’m planning to keep this up as I continue to teach myself how to sign – with the help of an online course from @BritishSignBSL and their online dictionary as well as other online resources and the creator of the #getthenationsigning hashtag @RebeccaCrossle2.

So come on fellow radiographers, nurses, doctors, occupational therapists, operating department practitioners, health care assistants and all the other wonderful people I work with, give it a go and lets all help to #getthenationsigning!

Bye for now!

Ben 🙂

 

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#TOTM from 12-01-16: ‘Ok, so it’s an ad for Samsung…’

Hey, hey, hey!

Long time no blog, I know! I’ve been away on me holidays and busy with an assignment for my postgrad, but I thought I should kick things off with a #TOTM for January:

A great demonstration of how learning a little sign language can make a big difference.

It’s a retweet of a tweet from @BritishSignBSL and I just think it’s a great ad. So, no i’m not advocating or endorsing the use of Samsung products, but I am praising Samsung for an ad that will hopefully make you smile – or even cry, as it did me! As it says when you click on the link, it’s not British sign language, but you get the message – hopefully! Now it’s only a few minutes, so please click on the link and watch the video – if you haven’t already seen it that is!

Once i’ve got my postgrad out the way in a few months time i’m going to be “signing” (pun intended!) up to British Sign Language’s online ‘Introducing BSL‘ course:

http://www.british-sign.co.uk/learn-online-british-sign-language-course/

Learning some BSL is something that i’ve wanted to do for many years now and I figure it’s time I pull my finger out and start using it to communicate – in an appropriate manner naturally!

Have a look and maybe sign-up yourself!

It’s good to be back – I hope you agree!

Ben 🙂

#hellomynameis…

This is taken from http://drkategranger.wordpress.com/2013/09/04/hellomynameis/ (Posted on September 4th, 2013)

I was recently a hospital in-patient with post-operative sepsis following a stent exchange procedure. During this admission I made some observations on the quality of my care. Perhaps the starkest of these was that not every member of staff who approached me introduced themselves. We have it drilled into us on day 1 of Clinical Medicine learning that starting the relationship with a patient begins with an introduction. It was easy marks in our exams. I’m sure it is the same for nursing and other healthcare professionals too. But something has failed…

As a healthcare professional you know so much about your patient. You know their name, their personal details, their health conditions, who they live with and much more. What do we as patients know about our healthcare professionals? The answer is often absolutely nothing, sometimes it seems not even their names. The balance of power is very one-sided in favour of the healthcare professional.

I have always been a strong believer in getting to know people’s names as part of building good working relationships with both patients and other colleagues. I think it is the first rung on the ladder to providing compassionate care and often getting the simple things right, means the more complex things will follow more easily and naturally.

So here the idea of #hellomynameis is born. If you support this idea please leave a comment below with your introduction to a patient. By doing this you are pledging to introduce yourself to every patient you meet. Please share this page with as many healthcare professionals as possible and let’s make things better… The NHS employs 1.7 million people. The majority of these people will interact with patients on some level. Let’s see how many pledges we can get!

Here is mine to get us started:

“Hello. My name is Dr Kate Granger. I’m one of the senior doctors who will be looking after you on the ward while you’re with us. How are you feeling today?”

So, come on everybody. It’s not that difficult. Not only is it our professional responsibility to introduce ourselves to our patients, I believe it is simply the right thing to do. If you don’t do it already, then PLEASE START TODAY! This is how I intoduce myself:

“Hello. My name is Ben. I’m one of the radiographers and I’ll be taking your X-rays today if that’s alright?”

Watch this space…

Welcome to my new website 😀

Over the coming days, weeks and months, I intend to start sharing my thoughts and opinions a bit more on the matters I have been tweeting/retweeting and posting on up until now. For those of you that are kindly already following me on Twitter (@radiographerben) or have liked my FaceBook Community page of the same name, then thank you! Please share my Twitter/FaceBook/Website details with your friends and colleagues and anyone else that you think might be interested in the kind of topics I have been covering up to now.

My main interests cover areas such as patient-care, communication, dementia, care of the elderly, all things A&E (including access to services and the trauma radiography itself), end-of- life care, mental health, education and learning. This is by no means an exhaustive list!

I would welcome feedback on the content of my website as it develops over the coming months, and am open to suggestions about further topics to cover and comment on. Please feel free to get involved and get in touch!

And remember…

“It’s not just about bones!”