|
|
Miracole Walker Interpersonal COM. Journal Nonverbal communication plays an important role in our interaction with others. Nonverbal communication includes facial expressions, tones of voice, gestures, eye contact, spatial arrangements, patterns of touch, expressive movement, and other nonverbal acts. These nonverbal acts are used to accomplish a number of our interpersonal goals as communicators. This concept of nonverbal communication played an important role in my recent visit to the emergancy room. I arrived at University hospital at around 2am on Sunday morning, feeling weak, nauseous, dizzy, and like my brain was exploding from the inside. The nurse gestured for me to sit down, I noticed her body language and complied. She greeted me with a warm smile, slightly leaning forward, while gathering information about the nature of my emergancy. Her smile helped me feel a little more at ease in the hostile environment of the hospital. Her forward lean and open posture let me know that she was interested in what I had to say and was trying to help. I was positioned in a wheelchair and then rolled into a small private room. The gurney I was transferred to was cold and rigid to the touch. The metallic, aseptic smell lingering in the chilly air hung in my nose; constantly reminding me of where I was. When the doctor arrived, he greeted me with a handshake, a warm smile, and kept eye contact with me while speaking. All of these nonverbal cues conveyed to me that he was paying attention and not being distracted by the chart in his hands or the beeping heart monitor that I was wired to.
|
