Running Head: NURSING HOMES DISCOURSE COMMUNITY

Nursing Homes Discourse Community

Emily Contreras
RWS 1301
Professor Chowaing C. Belekeh
09/10/16

Contreras

Running Head: NURSING HOMES DISCOURSE COMMUNITY

Contreras

Introduction
Organizations are made in order for people of similar interests to come together and get
to know each other. Whether the organizations are athletic, educational, or just for plain fun, each
one is its own discourse community. The truth is everybody is part of a discourse community.
Some may even be a part of several. A discourse community, as John Swales (1990) describes it,
is a group that has a certain way of communicating to one another and consists of 6
characteristics that vary for each community. The community that I chose to analyze will be the
one that I am a part of, nursing homes.
Nursing homes play a major role in the wellness of senior citizens all over the world.
Senior citizens with mental or physical incapacities are usually found in the nursing homes. Most
homes serve one purpose- and that, of course, is to provide care for each resident so that they
may experience a better quality of life than they would if they were to live alone. A nursing home
consists of a large team that includes the Certified Nursing Assistants, the Licensed Practical
Nurses or Registered Nurses, the Physicians, the Dietician, the Social Worker and many more.
Information is relayed to several of the team members through certain mediums in order to
obtain the purpose of the home.
Literature Review
So what is a Discourse Community? According to Erik Borg, discourse communities are
groups that have goals and purposes, and use communication to achieve those goals (Borg,
2003, p.1). Each of these communities, as Swales describes, has six characteristics that help
define and achieve the goal. The first characteristic is that there must be a goal that the group is
set to achieve. The next characteristic is that there is intercommunication within the group
between the members in order to achieve the goal. Participation, which is the third characteristic,

Running Head: NURSING HOMES DISCOURSE COMMUNITY

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ties into the intercommunication aspect. The members of the community have to participate but
if they never open any of its communications they can not be said to belong to the discourse
community, even though they are formally members of the society (Swales, 1990, p. 7). This
means that they must participate in the communication of the group in order to be considered
part of the discourse community. Moving on, the community must have genres, or means of
communicating the information to each other. Newsletters, emails, notes, and bulletin boards are
all examples of genres that a community may use. Lexis, being the fifth characteristic, is
developed within the group. It is the certain vocabulary that members use while passing on
information within the group. Lastly, expertise is the last characteristic that defines a discourse
community. The group must have varying levels of expertise and as John Swales puts it in words,
the survival of the community depends on a reasonable ratio between novices and experts
(Swales, 1990, p.8).
Discussion
For a few weeks now, I have been part of the nursing home discourse community as I
recently took on a job in a nursing home. This has given me a chance to analyze my community
and observe whether or not the community meets the six criteria John Swales mentions in his
article, The Concept of Discourse Community.
First off, the community must have a goal. The goal of the nursing home where I work at
is to provide a safe environment and the best quality of care to the residents during their
remainder of their days. The families who may not be able to provide such care due to personal
reasons leave residents of the nursing home in our care. It is our job as the nursing home
community to care for each resident in order to improve their quality of life during their stay.

Running Head: NURSING HOMES DISCOURSE COMMUNITY

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In order to provide the best quality of care to the residents, there must be
intercommunication within the members of the community. The members of the nursing home
community which includes the Physicians, the Registered Nurses, the Licensed Practical Nurses,
the Certified Nursing Assistants, the Certified Medication Aide, the Dietician, the Occupational,
Speech and Physical Therapists, and the Social Worker, all communicate with one another and
collaborate with each other to develop a care plan that is individualized for each resident in order
to fit their needs.
However, most often, members of the community are not present most of the time. It is
mainly the Certified Nursing Assistants, the Licensed Practical Nurses, the Registered Nurses,
and the Certified Medication Aide, that works directly with the resident and provides most of the
care. Despite their absence, they are still part of the community. Physicians are always in contact
whenever needed and usually do their rounds on a weekly basis. The social worker may not
provide direct care but does work behind the scenes with the resident and the family to ensure
the resident receives the services that are required. Each member has their own means of
participation within the community and has their own way of receiving communication.
This brings me to the next few points, which play a large part in the communication
within the community, the genres and lexis used to provide information to one another. First of
all the genres used within the nursing homes include verbal, written, and non-spoken
communication. To expand, verbal communications are orders you receive from physicians over
the phone or through direct communication with the therapists. Of course, with each verbal
communication, you must have a written form of the verbal order. This is usually done within the
computer system we have. They come in forms of the MAR, which is the Medication
Administration Record, or on our communications board, which is on the dashboard of our

Running Head: NURSING HOMES DISCOURSE COMMUNITY

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system once we log in. Another form of verbal communication is the communication within the
Licensed Practical Nurses and the Certified Nursing Assistants. These two members work side
by side on a daily basis and it is important that they communicate with one another throughout
their shift. The Licensed Practical Nurses may ask the Nursing Assistants to take the vitals of a
certain resident or to turn the resident in bed every two hours in order to prevent pressure ulcers.
In turn, the Nursing Assistant communicates to the Licensed Nurse any changes in condition they
may have noticed in the resident.
Furthermore, the specific vocabulary used to relay the information consists of medical
terminology that includes abbreviations and certain Latin root words. For example, the physician
may write a prescription for a medication to be given BID, which translates to twice a day.
Additionally, you have other abbreviations that stand for certain disease processes. DM stands
for Diabetes Mellitus. CHF stands for Congestive Heart Failure and so on. Abbreviations can
also be found throughout the occupations. LPN stands for the Licensed Practical Nurse and MD
stands for the physicians. The Lexis used between the members of the community can be hard to
understand but with the proper education on it, it is possible to get a whole medical history in
just four incomplete sentences.
Lastly, the varying levels of expertise are a big part within the nursing home community.
Certified Nursing Assistants go through a semester of education in order to be able to take the
test and become certified in the profession. The Licensed Nurse spends about a year or two in
order to obtain their license. However, Registered Nurses require a Bachelors degree and a
Physician requires a Doctoral, which takes more than 9 years to obtain. Despite the different
levels of expertise, the members of the community work harmoniously.
Conclusion

Running Head: NURSING HOMES DISCOURSE COMMUNITY

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After discussing the six characteristics that make up a discourse community, we found
that the nursing home community does in fact fit all six criteria defined by John Swales. The
nursing home community works to provide a safe environment and to provide the best quality of
care for the residents with the help of communication and the different levels of expertise from
the members of the community. This of course can apply to a lot of the communities within the
medical field. The nursing home community is a large community prevalent around the world
and it is an honor to be a part of that community, working to provide care for those who need it.

Running Head: NURSING HOMES DISCOURSE COMMUNITY

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References
Borg, E. (2003). Discourse Community. Key Concepts in Elt , 398-400.
Swale, J. (1990). The Concept of Discourse Community. Genre Analysis:
English in Academic
and Research Settings , 468-473.