Analyze three scenarios from Checkpoint 8-4 in Ch. 8 of Clinical Delegation Skills, where passive,
assertive, aggressive, and passive-aggressive communication styles are illustrated.

? Select a scenario from your own health care experience. Describe the scenario and communication style. If
you could do this over again, how could you improve the communication? How was communicating effectively
important in the health care profession and in the outcome of this interaction
Determine what type of communication style is being used by the
following personnel.
1. Rashad attended the team meeting with all the rest. When the topic
of role clarification for assistive personnel came up, he stated that he
thought part of his role was to anticipate the needs of the patients for
toileting and personal hygienic care. Robin, one of the staff RNs in their
psychiatric care group home, raised her voice as she firmly stated, ?You
are only an aide. That is in the RN role. We don?t expect you to think,
just to do what we tell you to when we tell you.? Rashad sat quietly
without responding because he needed to keep his job but began
his plan on how he?d make Robin pay for her statement. Maybe he
wouldn?t do anything without being told.
2. Pamela, one of the school nurses in a rural county, was following
up on some vision and hearing testing done by one of the volunteers,
Brigite. She was concerned about the accuracy of the work due to the
way these readings compared to previous readings. Instead of discussing
this with Brigite, she decided to do it all herself and retest everyone.
3. Rosa managed the ambulatory care surgical center for a large
healthcare conglomerate. Mabel, one of the surgical technicians, told
her that she would not consider scrubbing in any orthopedic cases.
Her rationale was that they were too physically stressful. When Rosa
mentioned that, although she wanted the staff to work together as a
team, with everyone using his or her strengths to bring the best care
for the patients, and that being involved in orthopedic cases was a part
of Mabel?s job description, Mabel told her menacingly that she was the
granddaughter of the chairman of the board and that she?d ?get Rosa?s
head on a platter.?

8?4.
1. The psychiatric nurse was being aggressive. Rashad
responded by being passive but planned to be passive?
aggressive in the future.
2. This school nurse was being nonassertive.
3. Mabel was aggressive. Her boss was being assertive.