Introduction. Maureen Hawthorne Explains The Importance

The different reason people communicate is to show pain, anger, joy, love etc. It is important for people communicate so their views, wishes and information gets across. The communication could be formal or informal. Documentation and record keeping is important in the social care sector as this information may be used for legal reasons. All communications is confidential and are on a “need to know” basis. Communication between colleagues and other healthcare professionals is essential, as it ensures continuity of care. It also shows staff are aware of the current needs of the client.

This is essay is going to be based on the importance of communication within the broader context of health and social care, it will give you a definitive insight to different communication techniques, such as verbal and non-verbal communication. Within this essay I will also discuss how important effective communication can be and the barriers that can restrict the care practitioner from doing his/her job effectively by using communication as the main tool. Furthermore how personal beliefs and values need to be taken in to consideration and the effect it may have on a service user in the light of working professionally.

Communication is incredibly important, it underpins any professional relationship with a patient. In any given specialty there is a need for good communication and there is an increasing emphasis placed on communication skills during undergraduate training programmes (both medical and nursing) however it is especially important within palliative medicine where patients are going through massive life changing events, often facing frightening times ahead in their not distant futures. Patients will have their own thoughts and agendas when entering a consultation and it is important to illicit what this is and to establish their own ideas, concerns and expectations as well as considering how much information they would like to receive from the professional.

Defining hope can be equivocal and yet it is commonly associated with a particular experience. Hope reflects an individuals moral values, it is required for human survival; hope is often needed when there is a sense of uncertainty for the future (Tanis & DiNapoli, 2008). In healthcare, hope is described as one of the most important concepts associated with spirituality; without it everything else seems to loose its value. Therefore, hope instigates positive adjustment during the dynamic process of recovery (Tutton, Seers, & Langstaff, 2009).

The communication cycle is a commonly used theory of communication. It was first developed by Charles Berner in 1965; it was then modified by Michael Argyle, who was a social psychologist, in 1972. The concept of a ‘communication cycle’ makes it clear that, in order to have effective communication, it must be a two way process. As well as transferring messages to others in a definite, clear way, health care professionals must be able to respond to the verbal feedback as well as the non-verbal feedback. So, effective communication has to involve effort from both participators (both the sender as well as the receiver) in the communication.

Communication involves information being sent, received and decoded between two or more people (Balzer-Riley 2008) and involves the use of a number of communication skills; which in a nursing context generally focuses on listening and giving information to patients (Weller 2002). This process of sending and receiving messages has been described as both simple and complex (Rosengren 2000 in McCabe 2006, p.4). It is a process which is continually utilised by nurses to convey and receive information from the patient, co-workers, others they come into contact with and the patient’s family.

My perception of palliative and Hospice care has changed slightly when it comes to communication with the family. I walked into the hospice unit mentally preparing myself to talk with patient families about their loved one and the dying process; this was certainly not the case. The family and the patient did not want to be bothered unless comfort interventions needed to be carried out and there was no conversation to be had about the patient and his situation. This shows that each family is different, each patient is different; and we need to respect and accommodate their unique

Communication is simply the act of transferring and receiving information from one person to another. We communicate for a variety of reasons such as to share information, to comment, to give instructions and to share opinions. Effective communication involves a two way process in which each person tries to understand the view point of the other person. Moreover, communication is a cycle because when two people communicate they need to check that their ideas have been understood. Good communication involves the process of checking, understanding, using reflection and active listening. Effective communication is highly important for the health and social care sector. If professionals use effective communication then it could help them to focus on fulfilling the needs of service users. There are several theories of communication that can be applied to a health and social care environment.In this assignment we will explore two theories of communication in health and social care.

Therapeutic communication aims to accentuate understanding of the client’s situations to health professionals, to achieve a greater outcome of health. It focuses on the clients need not the nurses. Pontes (2008) notes that health professionals verbally communicate with clarity and brevity

In summary, professional communication is a very core for the therapeutic relationship. In detail, knowing how to create a successful communication will show the sincere intention of the nurse to patients’ concern because they are not only sufficient to assist patients’ data but also convey the message that patient can trust then accept. Therefore, choosing to be a nurse means increasing interpersonal communication knowledge and skills. Nurses should always remember this as a basic qualified standard to reflect of how they sympathize with

Nurses may encourage the patient to consider their desired treatment plan by fostering discussions regarding the patient’s goals. Recognition and utilization of several communication strategies may assist the nurse, who is unsure or uncomfortable, in discussing goals of care with patients and families. According to Peereboom and Coyle (2012, strategies provide a ‘‘tool box’’ to draw from as needed, which assists the nurse in forming a strong nurse-patient relationship and decreases discomforts the nurse may have when discussing end of life treatment goals

Relational Dialectics Theory is used to navigate the communication that is involved towards the end of a person's life. It is used to better understand the dialectical tensions that occur within patients and their care providers communication. The study finds that dialectic tensions always occur during end-of-life communication.

Communication, in healthcare, is a multidimensional concept that involves patients, family members, and a health care team. There is a direct correlation with communication, improving a patient's well being, and quality of care. Adequate communication among physicians and their patients is an actively growing research topic. Results supplied by such studies have provided effective recommendations for oncologists and their team. These recommendations include the patient-physician relationship, how physicians utilize medical information, how physicians deal with patient emotions, physician self-management, and educational conferences designed to sharpen communication. Communication is important during each phase of cancer care.

Being optimistic is the main principle for most people. We may often hear the statement about “be an optimist, not a pessimist!” shouted by people. Sometimes you do it for yourself too. When facing such a failure or problem, this will not only help to relieve your heart. Being optimistic will help someone to be healthy in physical and mental. An optimist will find the best way in any circumstance and hope for every good thing can come to him/her. You may have gone through thousands of hard times. However, if you are a born optimist then you will not care of anything destructing you.

Reichard, Avey, Lopez and Dollwet (2013) systematically reviewed empirical research conducted on hope and the workplace. The studies that were incorporated in the meta-analysis totaled 11,139 participants from 45 independent samples. The studies were collected by doing an electronic search on academic databases and also by directly contacting journals and authors. Selections were based on their quantitative measures between hope and work-related outcomes. A coding protocol was developed and the r statistic was chosen as the effect size on determining the correlation between hope and work outcomes. The results of the analysis indicated that hope had a positive moderate correlation with job satisfaction (mean ρ = 0.37), organizational commitment (mean ρ = 0.31), work performance (mean ρ = 0.27) and health and well-being (mean ρ = 0.44). There was also a negative moderate relationship between hope and burnout and stress (mean ρ = -0.35). Based on these observed correlations, there was a higher probability of employees experiencing successful job performance and health and well-being when there were high levels of hope. Therefore, the researchers recommended that organizations invest in the development of employee hope because it was highly correlated to positive work outcomes (Reichard, Avey, Lopez, & Dollwet, 2013).