Poor Communication Between Doctors And Patients

Communication in the healthcare field may be a little different for some people. Healthcare requires the communication to have a purpose, and that purpose is revolved around a person’s needs. A patient with good staff communication during

Tony Robins hit the nail on the head when he said, “To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.” There are several different factors that influence the communication between medical professionals like doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists and the patients they treat. A few of these include the ability to explain or comprehend information, time spent face to face with patients, and the inability to practice active listening. The first interaction with a patient will set the tone for their care and the more comfortable a patient feels, the more they will divulge during their initial interview.

Investigating problems on both the doctors and patients side during the interaction at any medical appointment is key when interpreting statistics that relate to this matter. These aspects will be further explored later in this paper. The general consensus from many articles and studies indicate that miscommunication is a massive problem that impacts many individuals who die each year from miscommunication. Furthermore, each article shows a different perspective on where this error comes from and where, both doctor and patient, go wrong and what they can both do to improve the communication between them. Another aspect that must also be incorporated into this argument is that communication is not all verbal and that non-verbal communication can be just as effective or ineffective when it comes to dealing with other medical personnel or patients. The 7% rule coined by Albert Mehrabian in his book “Silent Messages” states that “93% of communication is non-verbal, with 55% being body language and 38% being tone of voice; leaving only 7% of communication being verbal.” (“Silent Messages” Albert Mehrabian), and that ineffective or bad non-verbal communication can be just as detrimental during an interaction as verbal communication. Unfortunately, for doctors, the precision of the execution in this small 7% of communication is crucial when explaining challenging

A patient must have confidence in the competence of their physician and must feel that they can confide in him or her. This is always good, when you feel comfortable in talking to your physician things are so much better and it makes you feel secure. As, with my doctor I have been with her since I was sixteen years of age and we have a magnificent physician-patient relationship.At appointments we talk about

Professional Communication is a very important element in the foundation for a strong health care system. Communication can also serve as a basis for basic health care administered. Communication is not only the one tool in health care in which we can control, but also what helps prevent the derailment in patient-healthcare professional trust.. Types of model that can help express how important professional communication is within health care is the movie titled, The Doctor. There are various examples in this movie in which the importance of professional communication is portrayed and supports the argument, as well. These types of examples and supporting data can also be found in real life testimonies of what type of situations can result from lack of professional communication in the health care setting. Communication teaches the importance in human-to-human contact that some hospitals and health care setting may lack due to the certain personality type that is more attracted to the roles of doctors. Professional communication should remain at the forefront of bed side manner and proper etiquette in the health care field and setting.

Communication skills are very important no matter where or who you are. Communication within a workplace can determine whether a business or individual is successful or not. Understanding effective communication in a medical setting helps hospitals and doctor offices develop a work environment that is able to communicate effectively with coworker, patients and doctors in order to take of the patients needs. Listening, clarity and Patience are three main keys to effective communication within a workplace. In this paper, the author will describe an experience within the medical field work place where communication was effective.

In the field of health care, communication is essential for proper function in every situation. Poor communication skills can result in perilous and sometimes fatal consequences. Each interaction with coworkers and patients is critical, and effectively communicating is an important means by which quality care is provided. As future health care providers, it is our responsibility to learn to effectively communicate between other providers and patients. Wayfinding shifts were an excellent way to practice effective communication in a health care setting. During my wayfinding shifts, I experienced firsthand the communication process between providers and patients while applying concepts about effective communication with patients and providers.

Communication plays a vital role in the healthcare setting, as the relationship with the healthcare professional sets the tone of the care experience and has a powerful impact on patient satisfaction. It is “the shared process in which messages are sent and received between two or more people which are made up of a sender, receiver, and message in a particular context” (cite, date). This essay highlights the importance of, and some common barriers to, effective communication in the healthcare setting. It involves many interpersonal skills such as effective observation, questioning and listening, giving feedback, recognizing and removing barriers.

One example of poor patient-provider communication is not having the patient understand exactly what they are having done whether it be an exam, procedure, or even surgery. Communication is key when you are talking to a patient, the patient should know exactly what the proccess is before any exam or procedure. For example if a patient comes in for a transabdominal ultrasound they have to drink 32 oz of water before hand so there bladder is full. If the provider does not tell the patient before hand and they come in with an empty bladder than this could delay the exam for an hour to two hours. Patients should have an understanding of what they are having done and what they need to do for any type of exam or procdure so it doesnt delay the department.

“Extensive research has shown that no matter how knowledgeable a clinician might be, if he or she is not able to open good communication with the patient, he or she may be of no help” (Asnani, MR. 2009). Effective communication plays a big role in healthcare and contributes to the quality of patient care and teamwork.

Malissa Brown: Yes, Malissa communication does a play a big role in the medical field; it would be almost impossible to continue patients’ needs and to run a health facility without it. You provided a great example, when stated “When there is a lack of communication on a regular term symptoms can be ignored or unattended to. One concern with communication is the fact that patients describe symptom in a different manner compared to care providers”. With this being said communicating in a clear manner and asking about the patients medication in a simple term will help avoid error. Do you think miscommunication happens to a lot of patients when they seek their health care provider?

their families to know what they are dealing with. This will also help with those

"Good communication skills have been linked to higher patient satisfaction, greater patient adherence to treatment, better patient health outcomes, fewer physician malpractice claims, reduced patient anxiety, increased recall and improved understanding." (Kissane, 2012) Numerous medical programs have executed basic communication skills curriculum. The five key communication skills encompass listening effectively, eliciting information using effective questioning skills, providing information using effective explanatory skills, counseling and educating patients, and making informed decisions based on patient information and preference. "The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education recommends that physicians become competent with these five elements." (Travaline,

In this case study, there are two problems which caused confusion between the mother of a young boy who was sick and the Doctor. These include language barrier and understanding field expressions (the mother of the sick child did not understand the meaning of the expressions used in the health field). For example, when the doctor stated that, “we’ll try something a little different”, he was not telling her to stop giving the sick child the medication which was recommended for him. Thus, this caused miscommunication between them.

There are multiple different ways to have effective communication in health care facilities, it is just taking the time to do it that tends to be the hardest part. By taking the time to communicate properly with those around you that are caring for the same patient, it could ultimately be the difference between life and death. Enforcing policies to make sure all health care personnel are effectively communicating by checklists, dry-erase boards, providing monthly staff meetings, briefings, debriefings, and using the SBAR will decrease the number of medical and/or surgical errors