Principles of Healthcare: Communication

Benefits of Communication

• Patients may disclose more information
• Enhances patient satisfaction
• Builds rapport between patient and professional
• Patient is more involved in decision making
• Leads to more accurate diagnosis
• Leads to more realistic patient expectations
• Better patient adherence to treatment
• Patient more open to seeking further treatment/care

Components of Communication

• Sender
• Message
• Receiver
• Feedback

Types of Communication

• Electronic
• Oral
• Non-verbal
• Written

Trends Following Communication Importance

• Mega Healthcare Systems
• Short Hospital Stays
• Confusing and Expensive Healthcare Costs
• Chronic Illnesses and Survival

Communicating with Patients

• Respect Patients when Communicating
• Address patients using first and last name (mr. LASTNAME)

Compassion and Concern

• If it’s shown to patients, results show have a faster recovery
• Neglecting compassion and concern can affect healing

Compassion and Caring

• Announce your presence
• Welcome the PT
• Ask if there is anything the patient needs
• Review what was done & next service
• Exit with a kind word

Communication and Patient Education

With compassion and concern, we teach to:

• Promote wellness
• Improve self-esteem

6-step Communication Process

• Sender: Set a goal (what do you need them to know)
• Create a message for the patient (objective and patient-specific)
• Deliver (how are you going to deliver w/patient specification)
• Listen, Wait, and Observe (check for what?)
• Receiver: Offer feedback & answer questions
• Sender: Evaluate, Revise, and Improve (did they get your message & do you need to restate)

Asking Questions

The patient states that they have pain

• Open Ended: needs more than 1 word to answer
• Close Ended: 1 word
• Leading: Leads towards a question, and multiple choices
• Probing: Probes for more answers (Asks more questions to gain more information out of your original answer)

Examples

• Open Ended: Can you tell me about your pain?
• Close Ended: Do you have any current health problems?
• Leading: You said you have pain, does it come and go or is it consistent?
• Probing: Where is it? When is it? Did you take anything?

Listening

Be an active listener

• Face the sender and make eye contact
• Clear your mind
• Don’t interrupt
• Do not judge (ITS NOT YOUR JOB), be objective
• Don’t complete the sender’s sentences
• Offer feedback (ask questions)

Non-Verbal Communication

• Tone
• Gestures
• Facial Expressions
• Touch
• Physical Environment

Barriers of Effective Communication

• Language
• Cultural Influences
• Defense mechanisms / angry
• Physical Distractions
• Sensory Distractions (hearing, vision, speech, confusion, disoriented)
• Medication Effects (drowsy, hyper, nausea)
• Pain

Gossip vs Communication

“One of the keys to avoiding gossip is learning how to change the subject of your conversation” -- Shawn Lim

• Say it’s unfair
• Say it’s inappropriate
• Change subject/get busy
• Smack yourself (theoretically)

Do not communicate to others about your PT unless they are need-to-know or you’re breaking the law

What can you actually do?

Change the subject, you don’t know, explain 2 sides to every story, state its not right, encourage communication

Barriers

• Pain/Cognitive impairment
• Physical Distractions
• Hearing
• Visual
• Angry/Defense Mechanisms
• Language/Culture
• Med Side Effects
• Gossip

Sympathy vs. Empathy

Empathy: Experiencing the feelings of others, you have personal experiences, emotion

Sympathy: Understanding the suffering of another, you acknowledge another’s circumstances, recognition