Shabrina Kumar

English 20
Anya Connelly
17 March 2016
The Nursing Community
What is a discourse community? As a collective definition based on many individuals, a
discourse community generally is a subgroup which shares many common interest. As defined
by John Swales, a linguistics professor, in his article, The Concept of Discourse Community, he
explained discourse communities by using six defining characteristics. He states, six defining
characteristics that will be necessary and sufficient for identifying a group of individuals as a
discourse community (Swales 417). A discourse community must contain a set of common
goals, mechanisms of intercommunication among it members, the discourse community used its
participatory to provide information, they utilize one or more genres, obtained specific lexis, and
has a specific degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise.
In regards to the field of Health Science, Nursing, a sub discipline of Health Science, is
its own discourse community. As defined by the International Council of Nurses, nursing is
defined as, Nursing encompasses autonomous and collaborative care of individuals of all ages,
families, groups and communities, sick or well and in all settings. Nursing includes the
promotion of health, prevention of illness, and the care of ill, disabled and dying people. Sarbjit
Rai, an Assistant Nurse Manager at Sutter Health , shared a few words in a formal interview
regarding Swaless six characteristics and how they are observed in the field of Nursing.
What is a nurse's goal? And how does a nurses goals differ from other medical workers?
What makes nurses have a discourse community? First and foremost, Sarbjit Rai stated, a
nurse's main goal is to provide patient care by also providing patient satisfaction in all forms

(Rai). In regards to other medical workers, they all share the basic common goal of providing
care and stratification to all patients. Around fifty years ago, nurses, doctors, and other medical
providers could have been easily distinguished, however today the field has become much closer
in relationship. In general, there is a larger discourse community in which all medical workers
fall, and underlies several sub divisions, such as nursing.
In which ways do nurses communicate with others? In regards to doctor-nurse
communication, when nurses speak to doctors they use a sophisticated form of speaking.
Generally during a nurse's morning shift, both the doctors and nurses conduct a daily routine, in
which they visit the patient and together discuss the condition of the patient. Besides verbal
communication nurses communicate with doctors through notes. Through an electrical service
nurses are able to send messages and leave notes for the doctors on patient charts. Doctor-nurse
communication is just as essential as nurse-patient communication. During a conversation with a
patient and a nurse, a nurse uses an informal vocabulary so the patient can better understand.
Communication is a key role while caring for a patient. Communication allows others to
understand what a patient feels and what has been and what has not been done to a patient.
Sarbjit Rai also mentioned how the hospitals have now incorporated the use of cell phones in
order to communicate and locate nurses/doctors. The cell phones help the nurses/doctors locate
each other and ask questions instantly. The phone numbers are also given to the patients, if the
patient is in need of the nurse, they can simply call them on their work cell phone.
In which ways do nurses communicate with each other? Similar to doctor-patient
communication, nurses communicate with each other during daily patient rounds. Typically
nurses would have a verbal conversation and review the patient chart. In order to improve patient
satisfaction, nurses perform a daily patient round. During their rounds, the nurses review the

patient's chart and check up on the patient. Interacting with the patient also helps the nurses
fulfill their goals as of satisfying the patient.
What forms of writing are used in nursing? How commonly is writing used? As of
previous years nurses physically wrote daily in patient charts, however as time has changed and
technology has grown, patient charts are now being electrically conducted. Now nurses
electrically input information through the computer into a patient charts. Nurses import anything
from vital signs to detailed reports on the patient's well being. The nurses take informal language
from the patients and transfer them to a more sophisticated tone with medical terminology in
order for the doctors to read/understand.
Is their specific terminology nurses use? According to Sarbjit Rai, the entire hospital has
adopted medical terminology. Working in the field of health science, learning medical
terminology is an important skill. Medical terminology is used to describe symptoms, diagnosis
and test. It allows all medical workers to communicate in one language and allows them to
interpret a certain type of pain with the correct wording. Medical terminology can normally be
abbreviated and used in patient charts. The medical terminology makes reading the patient charts
much quicker and easier to understand.
Among the nursing community, what gives a nurse a special expertise? What makes a
nurse stand out amongst others? In general, nurses can have a different expertise based on where
the nurse works. For example,if a nurse works in the cardiovascular department, their expertise
would be of the heart, where as a pediatric nurse would be an expert in child care. As reported by
Sarbjit Rai, an Assistant Manager, he believes the level of education a nurse posses does not
matter as much as the level of experience a nurse carries. For example, a nurse with an
associate's degree and ten years of experiences will know a lot more than a nurse with a

bachelor's degree. The amount of experience a nurse has makes their level of expertise higher. In
regards of what makes a nurse stand out, Sarbjit Rai mentioned nurses receive annual report
cards, which ranks a nurse from high, medium, and low performance levels. Performance levels
are based on how well a nurse satisfies a patient and how well of a team player he/she is. A nurse
with a higher-ranking performance would exhibit high communication skills, satisfy patients, is
very reliable, and no disciplines. Overall, with years of experiences nurses learn to perform at
higher levels.
In retrospect, the nursing discourse community comes together through their common
goals, their ways of communication, the genres they use to accomplish their goals, the specific
words and phrases they use and their expertise. With nursing in mind as my future career,
knowing about the discourse community and how Swaless six characteristics relate to nursing
can help me as an individual to succeed in that field. As previously stated, a discourse
community must contain a set of common goals, intercommunication among it members,
mechanism to provide information to others, they utilize one or more genres, obtained specific
lexis, and has a specific degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise. Following Swales
definition, we see how a group of nurses obtain these characteristics creating their discourse
community.

Works Cited
"International Council of Nurses." International Council of Nurses. N.p., n.d. Web.
Rai Sarbjit, Interviewed by Shabrina Kumar, March 7, 2016
Swales, John. "The Concept of Discourse Community." The Concept of Discourse Community
(n.d.): n. pag. Web.