Effective Communication In Healthcare

Effective Communication in Healthcare
Communication can be defined as the process of passing a piece of information, opinion and feeling between people by writing, speaking or body languages. Effective communication ensures the idea, the transmitted contents, are clear and successfully delivered, received and understood by people in the manner it was intended by the sender.
In the healthcare parlance, effective communication among patients and health caregivers is very essential to offering improved patient care and boosting patient satisfaction. It comprises the ability of healthcare officers to gather facts and figures in order to promote accurate diagnosis, proper counselling, therapeutic instructions, and affirm caring relationships with
patients.
Often medical professionals overestimate their capability in communication which sometimes leads to eventual patient dissatisfaction and occasionally complaints. When communication is ineffective, it can lead to improper diagnosis and improper medical treatment or occasional delayed attention to the patient in the lighter cases.
Effective strategies to improve communication in the Healthcare
Use Simple Language
Use clear, simple and unambiguous language at all times. Medical professionals should avoid using unclear language when communicating with the patients. Always use the language they are familiar with, understand and are comfortable with. Avoid the use of complex medical jargons. It will often lead to reduced confidence of the patients.
Be Attentive and Always Listen
Good communication is often accompanied with good listening ability. When you listen to what your patient is saying and not often ignoring and moving to a new unrelated topic will bring up an unflinching trust. You will always make sense of what others are passing across if you take good time to listen to them. You will be amazed of the great discoveries underpinning their talk.
Empathy
Empathy is an attempt to see things from other people’s viewpoints. When talking with the patient be careful as much as possible not to be judgmental, rather view situations logically and then react. It assists in giving 100 per cent of the health caregivers’ attention to the patient. If you are not judgemental with your patients, they will not be afraid to express their comprehension and concerns which will ease out their nervousness.
Be Conscious of Non-Verbal Communication
Body languages are another wonderful way of communication. This may often include eye contact, facial expression, tone of voice, body movement and posture can effectively pass some information about the feelings of individuals. Training oneself to use these powerful, body languages, will in effect enhance easy connection with others, express your real meaning, navigate challenging situations and build perfect relationships with you and your patients which is the utmost. Body languages, no doubt, improve comprehension but when you are not consistent with it, it creates confusion about the meaning of the message to the patients.
Attempt to Dialogue
Dialogue with the patients will help you to determine if the patients agree with the diagnosis and the suggested or recommended therapeutic plan.
Discussing With Colleagues
There is need for effective communication when handing over and even when taking over patient care. Ineffective communication may lead to wrong diagnosis and ultimately failed treatments. This is also applicable also to communication between yours colleagues and other medical professionals offering medical services to the same patients.

Communication
As human beings are social animals, the need to communicate is essential to live a normal life. We often transmit information from one person to another by different methods of communication. These types of communication ensure seamless interactions and allow individuals to easily exchange feelings and thoughts in our daily lives. For humans to effectively socialize, these interactions are vital and inevitable.
Moreover, communication is broken down into three different parts. These include the voice, words and body language. They often come in small chunks depending on some situations and factors around it. In addition, the three may be used together or separately to make a point and to give much effectiveness to different forms of communication.
There are several types of communication. The major ones are nonverbal communication, verbal communication and visual communication. Verbal communication, as the name implies, refers to the word we speak to create a perfect dialogue among people. But it is more effective when used in combination with other forms of communication.
The second type is nonverbal communication.
This is achieved without uttering a word. But it can also be very effective. These usually include communicating with the use of gestures, facial expressions, posture, symbols, eye contact, or sometimes, an excellent combination of these may give the required effective communication. It occurs more often than other forms of communication. Occasionally, it occurs without our knowledge but information has been passed effectively. And the target audience has received it correctly before anyone even notices it. Therefore, it plays an important role in our everyday lives and we must use it effectively to boost our ability to communicate.
In visual communication, the major medium is using visual aids. This is completely different from the other forms of communication. It relies greatly on what we see and can read. The ideas to be passed across to the receivers are given through visual forms like illustrations, drawings, signs and lots more.
One other form which is an aspect of visual communication is the body language. It also engages the use of what we can see or notice. But body language also includes facial gestures and expressions. Posture and position of the speaker on a stage may also be regarded as part of body language. Teachers and trainers who have the knowledge use positional anchoring effectively to communicate. Public speakers, politicians and entertainers use this method most commonly to achieve their
goals.
One most powerful thing about body language is that it is not easily perceived. The reason may be because it enters the unconscious area of the mind and triggers responses which are well hard wired into our brains.
There are other more specific forms of communication. The choices are endless. But whichever one is appealing to you, ensure that it will effectively make your audience understand the message you intend to deliver. Communication is not about sending alone but it also has to do with the target audience effectively receiving and interpreting the sent message correctly. This is communication in its unalloyed meaning.

Hierarchy
Many organizations take good advantage of a hierarchy.
This is very important in the running of an organization. There are many features and structures of hierarchies. An organization can effectively apply this to line of control. How commands are passed from officers at the top of the hierarchy down to the rank and file may follow the already established hierarchy in the organization.
A hierarchy is basically a manner of organizing things that go in a specific direction, for instance, from high to low. It can be used to describe a number of systems, organizations and even physical objects that denote such a structure that is called "hierarchical structure."
Hierarchy is a the way and manner an organization is structured using diverse levels of authority and a vertical link or even chain of command existing between superior and subordinate levels of the organization. Control normally transcends from the higher levels to lower levels of the hierarchy. You can envisage an organizational hierarchy to be a pyramid. The top most level of authority is usually at the peak of the pyramid. Commands flow from this peak to the next level where it continues to move down the rank until it gets to the levels of people who actually execute the
order.
Information and redirections move vertically in hierarchical structures. Information moves up through the hierarchy until it reaches the highest level. When all the information is relating to a matter is received by the top management at the top of the hierarchy and assessed, a decision concerning is made. This decision flows down through the level of the hierarchy until it reaches those who will eventually execute it.
There are many practical examples in everyday life. One can be found in human itself. Human body is a hierarchy. The body is made of systems of organs, then individual organs. There are tissues in each of these organs. The tissues are made up of cells and cells organelles. This order is maintained in our body for the body to keep alive.
Another very common example is found in the political scenes. In America, the president is sitting at the top of the hierarchy and then next to him is the vice president, then the speaker of the house and then the president of the Senate and followed by the secretary of state.
In most organizational structures, the authority and responsibility is place at the top side of the company. It makes it flows down from this top to the lowest level. This is likened to a pyramid. In this type of arrangement, there are many advantages and disadvantages associated with it.
The major advantages of this structure are that it is highly organized and stabilized. There is less likelihood of the incidence of any disorder in the system. All the employees respect their positions, know what jobs to do and who they are to report to. In this structure, goals are clearly defined. The structure is most suitable for corporate organizations. Fixed rules within the organization are set in clear unambiguous language. Jobs are done in time because of the clear objectives.
Nevertheless, one thing not so good about the model is that it is barely flexible. This inflexibility may tend towards dictatorship and stiffness in management.