ABSTRACT
Touch is a non-verbal means of communicating our concern for our patient and our wish to share his situation. Often the only way in which we can communicate our continued interest and concern to very sick patients is through touch, and a sensitive worker can always tell when this is appropriate or when it would be too threatening for an inhibited patient. Dr Meares classifies the four main channels of communication as literal verbal communication, unverbalized phonation, extra-verbal communication, and non-verbal communication. The first of these, literal verbal communication, is the straightforward ‘communication of facts by the logical use of words’. Very few patients in hospital express their fear of death to the medical and nursing staff by direct verbal communication, and if they did they would in most cases be subjected to such a barrage of reassurance that it would be a long time before they did it again.
