COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES USED IN HEALTH CARE
By
Author
Affiliation
Instructor
Course
Date
Introduction
Communication denotes to the process of sharing and transmitting opinions, ideas, values and facts from one group/individual to another individual or from a particular organization to the other. Existence of effective communication (interhospital and intrahospital) is vital since it enables the healthcare providers to offer sufficient protection to their patients, helps save the cost and raise the efficiency of the day-to-day operations. Moreover, excellent communication in the healthcare enables the patients to have increased access to medical histories, thus mitigating the probability of the occurrence of medical faults. Hence it is of more considerable significance for the healthcare sectors to enhance good communication models throughout the healthcare system. The various components of effective communication in the healthcare include; cultural competency, healthcare literacy, and language barriers. Existence of good communication strategies in healthcare enables the patients to feel confident, safe and loved; all these aspects are vital for the recovery and treatment of the patients. Various communication strategies are used in the healthcare to ensure a smooth running of the activities throughout the health sector.
Patient teach-back is one of the communication strategies used in the health care sectors. Nurses tend to request the patients to repeat a particular concept, health information taught by the nurses in his/her own words. This is a crucial communication strategy since it enhances the patients to synthesize the information given to them by the nurses. Moreover, the activity of the teach-back is vital since it enables the nurses to confirm whether the patients have understood the information provided to them by the nurses (Benson, Anderson, & Leister, 2018, pp. 72). Also, allowing the patient to be parrot plays a significant role in eliminating the communication barriers that exist in the healthcare. Nurses can understand the concepts that the patients have grasped and the areas that he/she has not understood. Thus, the nurse can always go back to concepts that were not understood by the patients.
The other communication strategy used in health care is careful listening of the patients. Listening to the patients is vital in the healthcare sectors; patients need to feel that they have someone to share with their feelings and problems. Listening to the patients allows them to encourages them to express their concerns and fears (Benson, Anderson, & Leister, 2018, pp. 72). Additionally, active listening is a significant communication strategy used in the healthcare since it enables the nurses and healthcare providers to gather the necessary information required to offer quality care to the patients. Also, active listening enables the patients to be more amenable to the treatment, hence making it easier for the nurses to offer the healthcare services (Evans, Heawood & Sharp, 2011, pp. 112-113). The other reason why nurses make use of the active listening strategy is to show respect to build trust and ensure self-knowledge with the patients. Nurses and physicians understand that it is through the shared knowledge that they can be able to develop a viable and authentic care plan.
Additionally, healthcare providers use easy-to-understand language while communicating with patients. This type of communication strategy plays a significant role in enhancing patients understanding of the information given to them by the nurses and physicians. Use of complicated terminologies can hinder the understanding of the patients. Physicians and nurses always avoid the use of clinical acronyms and jargons whenever they are interacting with the patients since such terms may hinder understanding of the patients (Administrator, 2018, p. 44). Moreover, use of an understandable language by the nurses while communicating with the patients enables them to feel free to share their feelings and concerns with the nurses. Consequently, the use of simple and clear language improves the patients understanding level. This, in turn, aids the patients to trust and follow all guidelines given to him/her by physicians or the doctors.
Healthcare providers consider environmental barriers that might hinder effective communication between nurses and patients. Whenever the nurses notice that their patients are encountering problems while hearing, they tend to minimize background noise. They tend to find a quiet place where they can effectively communicate with the patients without encountering any disturbances. Moving into a calm place makes the patients feel comfortable and can converse with ease (Khanom et al., 2018, pp. 32-36). Also, healthcare providers can use physical aids such as spectacles and hearing aids to improve the patients hearing ability. Alternatively, healthcare providers can provide the patients with a form to fill in particular information whenever the patients are not able to communicate (Connelly & Gupta, 2017, pp 39-50). Distractions and noise tend to impede communication among patients who have cognitive impairment and dementia; they find the concentration to be complicated. Hence, whenever the healthcare providers require to communicate a vital message to such patients, they plan on and identify a suitable place where they can effectively communicate with the patient. Finding a quiet place to discuss various issues with the patients enables them to share most of the sensitive information with ease.
The other communication strategy used by the healthcare providers is the acknowledgement of the patient’s concerns and emotions. Physicians and nurses tend to explore the patient’s concerns and fears as well as their emotional reactions to a particular discussion. Exploring the patient’s concerns and emotions play a significant role in enhancing the patient’s understandability hence eases the process of treatment. Nurses tend to respond to the patient’s distress appropriately to give the patients comfort while undergoing medications (Berman & Chutka, 2016, p. 243). Moreover, healthcare employs the strategy of openness and offers real hope. Healthcare providers ensure that they don’t give the patients any false or misleading information to influence the patients positively.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are various communication strategies used in the healthcare. Among the communication strategies employed by the healthcare providers and the physicians includes the patient teach-back. Patients teach-back permit the patients to reframe the information given to him/her by the patients using their own words. This plays a significant role in enabling the physicians and nurses to understand whether the physicians have grasped every information given to them. Also, nurses and physicians practice keen listening to the patient’s concerns, listening carefully to the patient’s concerns and complaints build trust, which in turn facilitates the process of treatment. Health care providers use easy-to-understand language to mitigate communication barriers between the two parties. Communication strategies are significant in healthcare since they help in the building of trust and hence facilitates the process of treatment. Failure to have excellent communication skills in healthcare leads to communication barrier, which in turn hinders the patient’s treatment.
Evaluation
The various communication strategies used in health care are of significant importance towards enhancing the treatment of the patients. They enhance the building of trust between the patients and nurses or the physicians in the hospital. Teach back strategy helps in ensuring that patients can grasp every information being offered by the nurses and patients. Additionally, use simple language by the health care providers whenever they are communicating with the patients is an effective method since it aids in facilitating the patients understanding. Nurses should never use complex language since it could create a communication barrier. Moreover, the act of taking into consideration the environmental factors such as noise by the healthcare providers plays a significant role in enhancing the communication between the patients and nurses. Nurses and physicians should always communicate with the patients in a calm environment away from destructions and noise. Hence, the healthcare sectors need to embrace superior communication strategies such as listening carefully to patients. Combination of such measures will, in turn, enhance the effectiveness of the physician-patient communication, hence improves the efficacy of treatment procedures used on various patients.
Bibliography
Administrator, (2018). Overcoming Communication Barriers in Healthcare – The Medical Memory. [online] The Medical Memory. Available at, p. 44. https://www.themedicalmemory.com/overcoming-communication-barriers-in-healthcare/.
Benson, J., Anderson, K.M. and Leister, S., 2018. Using Language that Our Patients Can Understand: Cultivating Simple Language Use in our Medical and Physician Assistant Students, pp. 72)
Berman, A.C. and Chutka, D.S., 2016. Assessing effective physician-patient communication skills: “Are you listening to me, doc?”—Korean Journal of medical education, 28(2), p.243.
Connelly, R.A. and Gupta, A., 2017. Health literacy universal precautions: Strategies for communication with all patients. Health Literacy and Child Health Outcomes (pp. 39-50). Springer, Cham.
Evans, M., Heawood, A. and Sharp, D. (2011). CAM for supportive cancer care: Communication strategies used by health professionals. European Journal of Integrative Medicine, 3(2), pp.112–113.
Khanom, M., Ata, M., Khair, R., Ghose, A. and Faiz, M.A., 2018. Introducing Training on Doctor-Patient Communication Skill among the Pre-Intern Physicians: A Suggested Model. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Education, 9(2), pp.32-36.