Lomibao 1

Dominique Lomibao
Professor Ogbara
English 1A; #32469
23 February 2015
Discourse Community of Nursing

Introduction
A discourse community is defined as a society of people who share a set of common
public goals. According to John Swales in The Concept of Discourse Community, he claims
that there are six characteristics of discourse communities. Swales six characteristics are: 1) A
discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals. 2) A discourse
community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members. 3) A discourse
community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feed back.
4) A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the
communicative furtherance of its aims. 5) In addition to owning genres, a discourse
community has acquired a specific lexis. 6) A discourse community has a threshold level of
members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise. There are various
amounts of discourse communities around the world. Each and every one of us is involved with
at least one discourse community, but in order for an individual to expand their knowledge it is
better to be a member of multiple discourse communities. These different communities can be
my family, church, sports team or work. In the article Discourse Communities and Communities
of Practice: Membership, Conflicts, and Diversity, Ann M. Johns states, Discourse
communities can also be professional; every major profession has its organizations, its practices,

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its textual conventions, and genres. For example, in the field of nursing I will have to present
myself as a professional because when people see me messing around, they will be hesitant to
ask for your assistance due to the way you are acting. After all, it is about their health. In the
discourse community of nursing, all who are planning on becoming a registered nurse should
understand that nurses are important in society for which they are the first line of defense to
anyone who is seeking medical attention. Nurses with good qualities can easily contribute to the
success of their healthcare institution and can be the physical and psychological support of their
patients. In Implementation Of The Recommendations Of The Institute of Medicine Reports
Deborah Henderson claims, In the hospital setting, nurses are usually the initial interface
between the hospital and the EMS provider...They may also check and replace transport
equipment Not only do nurses take care of patients but they also have many other
responsibilities such the things listed in the quote. Knowing the different discourses in the field
of nursing can prepare me for the future because I can develop different characteristics as I
continue my education towards my career goal. I have chosen to follow the path of becoming a
registered nursing because there is something about helping people that satisfies me and the fact
that I can make a difference in someones life is just a great feeling.
Method
For my research of discourse community in the field of nursing I plan on using two of my
classs core texts, six to eight artifacts from the discourse, two scholarly articles from the library
database, and for my final research method I will be conducting two interviews with one upperlevel student and an actual nurse. I decided to interview a family friend and a mutual friend, via
email: Jean Espiritu and Jessica Cruz. The email with my questions was sent on the 10th of
February. I got a response from Jean a day later but for Jessica I had to wait a couple of days. I

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specifically chose these two because one is currently a nurse (Jean) and the other is an upperlevel student in hopes of one day becoming a registered nurse (Jessica). For Jessica I mainly
focused on how a person can transition from being an incoming freshmen to becoming an upperlevel student. I asked questions about similar skills a freshmen would need to have and the skills
they need to move on with to be an upper-level student. I also asked her about the habits she had
to be able to continue her education from studying to the amount of sleep she gets on the daily.
On the other hand I had completely different questions to ask Jean because she is already a
registered nurse. The discourse might have changed as she was transitioning from student to
professional. The questions I ask her were mostly about motivation and how she was able to
struggle through adversity when it hit because becoming a nurse is no joke to begin with, you
will need to possess many different skills. I was also able to ask her about the influences she had
on becoming a registered nurse and what inspired her to be one. I also asked her what type of
classes were the most relevant in preparing for this career. After conducting these interviews I
was able to find many different characteristics a registered nurse should have or obtain during the
course of becoming one. This will definitely help me prepare for being a registered nurse. In
addition, I noticed that both the people I interviewed said something about Biology being the
most difficult class to take during their first couple of years but at the same time it is the most
useful in the field of nursing due to the fact that it has many vocabulary words you need to know
for the field. The data I found is based on the six characteristics demonstrated by John Swales in
The Concept of a Discourse Community.
Results
Common Public Goals

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Students in the field of nursing can come to a classroom with different goals in mind;
someone might want to be a childrens nurse, while others wish to be a nurse in a general
hospital or a healthcare facility. Despite having different goals in mind they still have a lot of
goals in common, such as knowing how to communicate with fellow nurses, giving a shot to
someone, drawing blood, etc. These students, professors, and scholars wish to expand their
knowledge and understand more when it comes to taking care of the human body.
Mechanisms Of Intercommunication
There are many mechanisms of intercommunication in the field of nursing, on the level
you are on. Say you are only a student who is becoming a nurse; your form of communication is
mainly going to be in a small group in class or discuss a certain situation out loud as a whole
class. You are limited to different types of communication as a student because you might have
class three or two times a week and it might only be for an hour or two. As students it also isnt
as serious due to the fact that most scenarios are made up or have already happened. In the
discourse community of nursing there are many goals and these goals are generally written down
but in some cases, goals have to be written down considering that good nurses should
automatically know the main goal which is taking care of the patient. Goals in this field are often
communicated by newsletters, which will list multiple things to do and people to keep an eye on.
Another form of communication is verbal communication through small meetings or
conferences. This usually takes place when one shift ends and another one begins. Nurses do this
because things often change in a healthcare facility and they want everyone to be updated. If a
nurse isnt up to date on a certain situation he or she might do something that has already been
done by another nurse such as giving a medicine to a patient or replacing the UV with a newer
one. These little things can mess up the flow of a healthcare facility. Some other ways can be

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through an intercom, online via e-mail, and in small group meetings. Intercoms are usually used
to communicate with when one nurse is in another room but the in-charge nurse wants to
communicate something such as going to a different room after. E-mails are to communicate to
doctors or different hospitals when they have no time to visit. Communicating within a group is
usually done when a new shift of nurses just came because they will need to be updated on
certain situations and who to watch for in the hospital.
Participatory Mechanisms for Information and Feedback
As a nurse in a facility families are always waiting for some sort of feedback, whether it
is good news or bad news. There are different ways I can provide feedback or information to a
patient or a patients family. The first way can be face-to-face or upfront. This method is usually
used when the family comes to visit a facility or when the patient is being taken care of, but in
order to do this I will need to develop a discourse in which I will be comfortable telling a person
good or bad news. This may distinguish me as a professional or an amateur because
professionals usually tend to be straight forward when it comes to telling news and amateurs
might be a little bit hesitant when it comes to giving news or feedback. Another way of updating
the patient is through email and a landline. These two are used when the patients family is not
around and they want to be informed about their loved one. On the other hand when a nursing
student wants feedback they will have to go to class and talk to their professor or wait for their
test grade. Students can also go online and check their grades but only if the professor decides to
input their grades online.
Genres
Nurses have many different ways to keep track of patients. They either have a care plan
where they write notes about patients care plan. Another form of tracking a patient is charting

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where the nurse puts down where they saw the patient last. This is important because as a nurse
you must know where your patient is at all times and what they are doing. Progress notes can
also be another way of tracking a patient. This is basically when the nurse writes down how the
patient has progressed from the day before or from a month ago. Other forms of tracking patients
are: reporting, assessment, health history and publication of journal articles. These are all very
important because a patients health is very important and if you cant keep track of them it could
be a different of life and death.
Specific Lexis
Lexis are terms designed for a specific discourse community for instance in basketball
some lexis are: alley-oop, slam dunk, and pick and roll. Within the field of nursing many
different terms are used such as, vital signs which is measurements of temperature and pulse,
base of support stability provided by the feet and their positioning, lithotomy where a patient
is lying on their back with feet in stirrups, and carotid pulse pulse felt on either side of the
neck. These terms are used not to show off ones intelligence but to separate the professionals
from the amateurs. In my research I noticed that most nurses know the terminology and can
understand one another when they use words such as these. Other phrases and terms are used in
the nursing community that non-nurses may not understand.
Conclusion
The theory of being in a discourse community is to not differentiate us from one another
but to strengthen our bond with one another. These different discourses make us who we are and
without them we wouldnt have much goals in life. My goal is to become a registered nurse in
some point of my life and in order for me to fit in this discourse I will need to learn many things
such as their different lexis, ways of communication and most importantly their common public

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goals. With this in mind I can prepare early for my career in nursing because all of the research
and different discourses I found. In terms of finding my facts for my research essay I had to
overcome many obstacles. I had to find the right people to interview. In order to do this I needed
to make a list of the people I knew and from there begin to cross people off the list. Once that
was out of the way I needed to think of a way I can communicate to these individuals. Other
obstacles I had to over come to find facts were finding the right articles that were appropriate for
my research. Once I got my facts, the only obstacle left was to construct my essay so it fits the
proper format that my professor provided. As a result I found that there are many discourses in a
nursing community. Goals can range from taking care of patients to checking and replacing
transport equipment. When it comes to communication there are many types such as meetings,
intercom, and through landlines. A good nurse should immediately know what to do during their
shift. Nurses with good qualities can easily contribute to the success of their healthcare
institution and can be the physical and psychological support of their patients. I will now
implement the things I learned in this research essay to further my knowledge so that I could be
the best possible nurse I could be.

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Work Cited
1. "The Nurse And Patient Safety." H&HN: Hospitals & Health Networks 82.11 (2008): 43-46.
Health Source - Consumer Edition. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.
2. Cruz, Jessica. Personal Interview. 10 February 2015. E-mail.
3. Espiritu, Jean. Personal Interview. 10 February 2015. E-mail.
4. Henderson, Deborah Parkman, and June D. Thompson. "Implementation Of The
Recommendations Of The Institute Of Medicine Report, Emergency Medical.." Pediatrics
96.1 (1995): 194. Health Source - Consumer Edition. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.
5. Howell, Whitney L. J. "The Changing Role Of NURSES. (Cover Story)." H&HN: Hospitals
& Health Networks 86.3 (2012): 36-49. Health Source - Consumer Edition. Web. 4 Feb. 2015
6. Johns, Ann M. "Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice: Membership,
Conflict, and Diversity." Text, Role, and Context: Developing Academic Literacies.
Cambridge, New York Cambridge UP, 1997.51-70. Print.
7. Palacios, Natalia, et al. "A Prospective Analysis Of Airborne Metal Exposures And Risk Of
Parkinson Disease In The Nurses' Health Study Cohort." Environmental Health Perspectives
122.9 (2014): 933-938. Health Source - Consumer Edition. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.
8. Swales, John. ''The Concept of Discourse Community." Genre Analysis: English in Academic
and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990.21-32. Print.