Relationship Building is important in the speaking exam.
There are some common ways you can use to build relationships, whether they’re spoken or gestures.
However! It’s important not to pre-learn different phrases and use them in the exam in the order you learnt them. The phrases won’t always be appropriate to the scenario, and marks will be deducted.
A Friendly Introduction
To introduce yourself, use a friendly but professional tone and language.
- Good morning, my name is Kat, and I’m the nurse on duty today. To start, can I check your name? Thank you, Mrs Smith. Now, what can I do for you today?
- Good morning. I’m your nurse today. Could you tell me what name you’d like to be called? Thanks, Mary. Now I believe you have a few questions about your medications.
Your introduction will depend on the scenario on the cue cards. An introduction is sometimes unnecessary, so a friendly greeting is more appropriate.
Hear What the Patient is Saying
Top Tip: While the patient is speaking, it’s tempting to glance at the cue card and plan what you’ll say next. Unfortunately, while you’re planning, you are missing what the patient is saying, and your response will make it clear you were not listening. Listen when the patient is speaking.
Words to show empathy
- It sounds like you’ve had a stressful time.
- It’s understandable that you’re upset.
- I can hear you’re upset
- I’m sorry to hear that.
- That must be hard.
To show you are listening while the patient is speaking, you can say things like, yes, aha, mmm, okay, I understand. Nodding your head also shows you’re listening.
Showing You’ve Heard the Patient
Top Tip: It’s more important for you to demonstrate that you have heard the patient and respond to their worries and questions than to finish all of the tasks on the cue card.
Incorporating what the patient says into your answer shows you have heard and understood. (all part of relationship building)
- Carer: I’m worried about choosing a good nursing home for my dad to live in.
- Nurse: Choosing a nursing home is stressful, but we can work through it together and address any questions or worries you have.
Summarise the Details
Another way to show you heard the patient is to summarise what the patient has told you. Then, give the patient time to speak. Summarising helps to ensure you have the details correct. Common ways to summarise are:
- ‘Okay, let me check that I have everything…
- So, let’s go over the details again.
- I’ll just go over that again so I know I have all the details.
I’ll have more on speaking in the next post.
