Masks Hide More Than Just Smiles

It’s almost impossible to read facial expressions with our masks. As a pharmacist, I am realizing how much I relied on this silent form of communication now that it has been taken away. How is my patient feeling about “xyz”? Starting a new medication, looking for a consult for an OTC item, asking for advice, I relied heavily on reading their facial expressions to determine how involved they wanted me to go into a topic.

This realization became apparent to me when I was giving an immunization to a patient last week. I walked into the consultation room and I was struggling to read how she was feeling about getting her shots. She was wearing rather large face masks, gloves and was really quiet when I walked into the room. Since I wasn’t sure how she was feeling, I started counseling her on the antigens the vaccine covered as well as the side effects.  Her response to me was that she was really concerned about a family member who tested positive for Covid-19. I was taking her silence and lack of eye contact as dread for the immunizations, when in all reality it was not about that at all. 

I found this quote from Advisory.com and I thought it would be beneficial to share here.

They also hide other facial expressions that can communicate emotions like discomfort or disdain—which, according to Matsumoto, are critical to the "entire communication package" necessary for human connection. Moreover, masks can muffle speech and make it particularly difficult for deaf people, who often rely on visual cues, to communicate, Fortin notes.

Sources; Advisory.com