34: Janet

You are on placement at a children’s hospice. Your mentor has gone into the office upstairs to look for a research article to be discussed at the Journal Club in the afternoon. You are looking after a little girl aged five called Janet who communicates non-verbally. It is close to lunchtime. Janet becomes anxious and is making gestures and signs with her hands that you don’t understand. A healthcare assistant who started on the same day as you comes over to tell you that she thinks Janet has some behaviour problems and you should check her behaviour management plan to see what to do next.

  • Do you think it would be appropriate to look for a behaviour management plan at this point? What could you do to try and understand what Janet wants or needs?
  • Who could you ask for help?
  • How will you reflect on this later and who with?

› Suggested answers

  • Do you think it would be appropriate to look for a behaviour management plan at this point? What could you do to try and understand what Janet wants or needs?

You should comfort Janet and give her some time, observe what gestures she is making to see if you are able to understand what she needs. You could talk to her family if they are nearby or to other nurses, healthcare assistants or therapists around at the time and see if they know Janet and have a better understanding about how and what she is communicating. You can read her care plan about how she communicates so long as she is not distressed.

  • Who could you ask for help?

You can ask her family to help you understand what Janet may want and you can talk to other professionals on shift.

  • How will you reflect on this later and who with?

Later you can reflect on this yourself and with your mentor. You can think about what happened, what you did and what others did and how Janet reacted. You could also reflect on this with the healthcare assistant who has just started work so you can learn together from the situation.