Overview

In this video, we meet Celia, a 40-year-old woman who is approximately six months pregnant.  She is being seen in a community health center for her first prenatal visit with Elaine, a registered nurse.  Celia is married and has three other children.  She received prenatal care much earlier with her other pregnancies.  Celia presents with fading bruises and there is some concern that this pregnancy may involve special medical issues. 

Consider these questions as you view the video, and make some notes for yourself about your responses:

▶       Where do you notice Elaine responding nonjudgmentally to Celia?

▶       Where do you notice Elaine or Joni responding with empathy to Celia?

▶       Where could Elaine have responded nonjudgmentally or with empathy but did not?

Where do you notice Elaine responding nonjudgmentally to Celia?

▶       When she said “How are you feeling now?  Has anything changed?” in response to Celia’s feelings about her pregnancy.

▶       When she said “I notice you left ‘marital status’ blank on your intake form.”

Where do you notice Elaine or Joni responding with empathy to Celia?

▶       When Elaine said “This must be difficult.” in response to Celia talking about her husband wanting her to get an abortion.

▶       When Joni said: “I know you’re upset.  I’m sure the information you got today is  overwhelming, and you’ll probably have a lot of questions.”

Where could Elaine have responded nonjudgmentally or with empathy but did not?

Nonjudgmentally:

▶       “Is your husband the father of all your children?”

▶       When Elaine was talking to Joni and said: “I just wanted to scream at her.  ‘Don’t you dare take that baby home!’ I can’t believe how upset I got.”

▶       “Wait. It gets worse.  I just got her ultrasound.  Spina Bifida.”

Empathy:

▶       When Celia said that her pregnancy was not planned, Elaine could have responded by stating “This must be difficult for you.”

Instead of asking Celia how she is currently feeling about her pregnancy she could have stated “Sometimes women find that their feelings change during pregnancy.  Has that happened to you?”