Unit 3-Assignment When I started reading the chapters for this week I thought I knew most or at least have

read about most of the content. As I read further into the chapters I realized differently. I came across I!AA and knew most of the rights that patients had" but didn#t think about how e-mails" and other forms of sharing information stayed secure. It#s good to know that there are procedures to monitor the patient#s confidential files. Another right of the pt. is when they agreed to treatment when admitted into the facility" but can#t remember what they agreed to because of the medication that they were on. It#s wonderful to know that things most pts. would take for granted as something a provider would watch out for are being taught at the school level as part of a !$A#s role in the community. %uring my reading through the chapters I caught myself reflecting back to when I shadowed last semester. &ne instance was the correct way to enter a room and how to acknowledge the pt. that was receiving therapy that day. I remember the !$A asking if it was okay to provide therapy" asking their name and what name they went by. $o compound on the memory I remember one pt. suffering from a couple stages of grief and how the !$A worked through it. When the !$A asked how he was" he replied" 'I (ust want to die). I was stunned" but the !$A kept at it and before I knew it she gave him a few options and off to rehab they went. I started to think of how my communication skills might have gone that day. I even thought of the psychosocial behavior reflection in chapter * that made me think of how I want to be taken care of when I#m sick. %id I toughed it out or crawled up into a ball hoping that the chicken soup would soon be at my bedside. I felt empathy towards how someone laid up in a bed might not want to put forth an effort towards getting stronger if they weren#t optimistic. I now understand that there is a long road of learning in my future to help me with this predicament. $here are other improvements that I know practice will aid me in such as+ being able to clarify my thoughts" minimize information I give when e,plaining things" and reduce stress in life. I do feel that the last on is self-inducedWhen it comes to my strengths I feel that conversation is in that column. I never was aware of it" but many people compliment me on how I#m able to strike up a conversation easily. I also take great pride in the accountability that my word is worth. I think it comes from my parents telling me that once they lose my trust it will take along time before I could earn it back. .rowing up in a small town back east kept me pretty sheltered when it came to culture. $here wasn#t much diversity in the community+ even the different churches in the area seemed to speak much of the same belief. I know there#s more to culture than race and ethnicity" but other than the different classes of wealth and a persons

upbringing it was straight and narrow thinking. &ver the past decade my views have changed enormously" as if I turned on a light switch. I can say that I moved through the spectrum of cultural sensitivity over that time. $he input of religion" race" se,ual orientation" and political views has transformed me into the person I am today. /y communication skills have also increased" because I can recognize similarities in the cultures I come across each day. In my profession I need to try and break the communication barrier with fellow workers to get the (ob completed. I can#t say it#s easy" but I think it#s comical on both sides of the conversation- While I#m on this topic I can say that covert bias has been in my vocabulary" but it#s another one of the obstacles I#ve challenged myself to overcome. 0efore I sum up this reflection I#d like to say I see plenty of overt and covert norms in my workplace. I feel that the 1norms# are in every work place" and service learning is the only way to get around this. I also like how the A!$A has links to help develop the degree of culture competence in their !$#s and !$A#s. &ne last thing I feel is necessary because of the fear of mortality often in this field is the topic of spirituality. If religion is out of the sub(ect with a patient or therapist" spirituality can be the one thing that bonds a pt. and the therapist without the over-sensitive topic hovering above. I#m (ust saying that it might be a middle ground for two parties that think differently.