Communication Skills for the Healthcare Professional

1. Communication Skills for the Healthcare Professional Chapter 1 The Communication Process

2. Chapter 1 Outline • Therapeutic Communication • A Definition of Communication • The Five Steps of the Communication Process • The Sender has an Idea to Communicate • The Sender Encodes the Idea in a Message

3. Chapter 1 Outline, cont. • The Message Travels Over a Channel • The Receiver Decodes the Message • The Receiver Understands the Message and Sends Feedback to the Sender • Noise

4. The Importance of Communication Skills for the Healthcare Professional (HCP) • The standard of care demanded at all points of patient contact requires the HCP to communicate effectively with patient, family, and members of the healthcare team. • An HCP needs strong communication skills to serve in an increasingly diverse society. • Effective communication between the HCP and patient has been shown to improve patient health outcomes.

5. Therapeutic Communication • Therapeutic communication is communication between the HCP and patient (as well as the patient’s family) that takes place to advance the patient’s well-being and care.

6. Therapeutic communication has three main purposes • To collect healthcare-related information about the patient • To provide feedback in the form of healthcare-related information, education, and training • To assess the patient’s behavior and, when appropriate, to modify that behavior Effective therapeutic communication is characterized by support, clarity, and empathy.

7. A Definition of Communication • Communication is the successful transfer of a message and meaning from one person or group to another. • Meaning is especially important in this definition. For communication to be successful, both parties in the process must agree on the meaning of what is being communicated.

8. The Five Steps of the Communication Process • The Sender Has an Idea to Communicate. • The Sender Encodes the Idea in a Message. • The Message Travels over a Channel. • The Receiver Decodes the Message. • The Receiver Understands the Message and Sends Feedback to the Sender.

9. The Sender Has an Idea to Communicate • The idea to be communicated can be the result of thought or feeling and can be influenced by the circumstances of the current situation, as well as the sender’s mood, physical condition, culture, heritage, or background. The sender simply has something to communicate to someone else.

10. The Sender Encodes the Idea in a Message • To encode the idea means to put the idea into some form that can be communicated. The sender puts the idea into spoken or written words, or perhaps into hand gestures, body movements, or facial expressions.

11. The Message Travels Over a Channel • There is always a particular means, or medium, by which the sender sends the message. This is the channel. The sender can choose to use a telephone, speak face-to-face, write on paper or electronic tablet, send a fax or an email, draw a picture, use body language, make facial expressions, or use hand gestures. Sometimes the channel can be disrupted by noise.

12. The Receiver Decodes the Message • The receiver must then make some sense of the message. To do this, the receiver must decode the message, that is, translate the original message from its encoded form into a form that the receiver understands. • This step in the communication process can be complicated by many factors, all of which are also types of noise.

13. The Receiver Understands the Message and Sends Feedback to the Sender • The receiver understands the message and provides the sender with feedback, something that says,I have received your message and I understand it. • This feedback can be verbal or nonverbal—that is, the receiver can say something or make some gesture with their body or hands.

14. Noise Can Sometimes Disrupt the Communication Process • A Definition: Noise is anything that inhibits effective communication. • Although the term noise can at times refer to actual sound, noise does not have to literally prevent one or both parties from audibly “hearing” the other. Noise can come in many different forms.

15. Channel Noise • Channel Noise is anything that disrupts the channel’s ability to carry the message clearly. • Some examples of channel noise could include the following: • Static on a phone line • An improperly printing fax machine • Bad grammar in an email message • The effective communicator, however, will always try to minimize noise and ensure that conditions are optimal to send the message by the medium they have chosen.

16. More Examples of Noise • The receiver of the message may have some sort of physical pain or discomfort that prevents them from effectively “listening.” • The receiver may be distracted by fear or anxiety about themselves or a family member or friend and cannot effectively concentrate on the message. • There may be a language barrier or cultural differences that prevent the receiver from understanding the message.

17. Examples of Noise, cont. • The receiver may not be interested in what the sender of the message has to say, either through a simple lack of interest or because of other concerns that have a higher priority for the receiver. • The receiver of the message may be hearing or sight impaired. • Other examples?

18. The Communication Process