Health Care Communication: Communication Plays a Crucial Essay

Health Care Communication:

Communication plays a crucial role in the health care industry because of its direct link to delivery of patient care services. Therefore, communication is vital in health care despite of whether the individual is a researcher, patient, physician, caregiver, or student. Actually, the importance of communication in delivery of care is evident from its consideration as the key to improvement of patient safety, patient satisfaction scores, and inter-disciplinary teamwork. In the past few years, there have been increased efforts in the health care environment towards improving communication among the members of the team such as patients, family members, and the health care team members. This is primarily because effective communication in health care is the basis for patient safety, cultural sensitivity, and the core of palliative care since it matches the wishes and goals of patients with treatment plans.

Basic Elements of Effective Communication:

The success of every personal relationship and profession is dependent on effective communication, which plays a vital role in these aspects. Notably, effective communication generally incorporates the basic elements of communication. These basic elements of communication are the sender, receiver, message, medium, and response. For effective communication, the sender plays the role of initiating the communication process through the use of effective verbal and non-verbal communication techniques. As the party to whom the sender transmits the message, the receiver accepts the message through listening carefully. Since it's the most crucial element of communication, the receiver must compose the message carefully while the receiver perceives it suitably for effective communication to occur. In addition, the sender must use the appropriate communication channel to deliver the message in order to prompt suitable reactions or response from the receiver.

Basic Elements of Effective Communication v. Basic Rules of Health Care Communication:

Generally, the basic elements of effective communication include the appropriate framing of the message by the sender, communicating the message to the receiver through the use of appropriate communication channels, and receiving the appropriate response or reaction to the message from the receiver. Effective communication is guided by various rules including the need to be clear and objective in the communication process, avoiding any interruptions, choosing the appropriate timing, and staying calm during the conversation.

As previously mentioned, communication is vital in health care, especially in relation to delivery of efficient patient care services. The need for effective communication in health is attributed to the fact that delivery of patient care involves various individuals or practitioners who need to share patient information and discuss their management (Coiera, 2006). However, effective communication is guided by some basic rules that differ slightly from the basic elements of…