The Importance of Interpersonal Skills in the field of Radiography

They serve as pillars of wisdom and guidance while exhibiting communication adroitness with care teams and patients to engineer top-notch medical care. To maintain high standards, effective medical professionals are constantly taking in new information through continuing education, placing providers at the pinnacle of knowledge. Moreover, physicians require affective aptitude as they must convey empathy during patient interactions. All these attributes draw me to seek the personal challenge and resulting responsibilities that are demanded. I desire to become an important contribution to society in a field I am passionate

developing a rapport with ones patients and that a little compassion and understanding can mean the world to a

The importance of empathy in any helping profession, medical or social, cannot be overstated. The workers that exemplified it in their practice did the best that they could with their limited resources.

During my placement, I also developed good communication skills. I learned how to communicate effectively with clients to enable the provision of health care. When addressing clients, I avoided the use of difficult medical terms and opted for simpler words that were easily understood by all. I also used a variety of efficient communication methods such as allowing clients to express themselves, providing sufficient time for discussion and maintaining eye contact with clients. And to those clients that did not understand English, I sought the assistance of a trusted

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 pivotal aspect of receiving quality medical care is being able to communicate your health concerns and have confidence and trust in your doctor, which is essentially the doctor patient relationship. Yet, this

In summary, the experience of observing and reflecting on this video vignette, elevated my understanding of the range of techniques that enhances communication therapeutically, such as active listening, empathy, developing rapport and the use of non-threatening body language and tone of voice to alleviate patient anxiety and illicit patient cooperation. Moreover, the act of reflective contemplation gave me an understanding of what it means to be self-aware - to be able to recognise and arrest idiosyncrasies such as personal moral values and cultural beliefs so as to promote a healthcare environment that is patient-centred. As general workplace and healthcare resource pressures increases, it becomes even more relevant for healthcare practitioners and future clinicians to be versed in such techniques, so that despite the pressure, they are better able to manage their emotional and physical

A 21-year-old female was brought in by the paramedics, briefing the team that she was found unconscious on the woman’s restroom floor. Upon arrival, she was confused and frightened as she stared at the uniformed strangers in an unfamiliar environment. As other paramedics were taking her vitals, I softly spoke to her and reassured her that she was in a safe place and she will be taken care of. By accompanying her and sharing each other’s stories, she was able to calm down as well as have her trust instilled in our team. As she went from a defensive to relaxed demeanor, I have realized that these bedside manners are what open a gateway to patient trust. Gaining patients trust was a challenging but crucial skill in order to provide strong patient care. Regardless of what she was doing at the event, our team’s focus was on her health. This mirrors the core mission statement of Rock Med, “setting the standards in non-judgemental medicine”. It is this approach that I want to apply into my career as a physician; taking the initiative by actively engaging with patient in order to bring comfort and trust in their most vulnerable time. I have seen many physicians disregard consoling patients during a time of need. It is not enough to simply treat the patient. A good physician will also bring comfort throughout the healing process, putting aside patient worries. This simple yet

While examining the interpersonal interactions between doctors and patients it is clear that doctors completely control the talk time. Doctors ask a lot of "yes" or "no" answered questions, not allowing the patient to express very much emotional information. This is one of the ways that doctors, in this type of environment, try to stay emotionally detached from patients. An example of this can also be found in the movie when all the experienced doctors only refer to patients as their certain illnesses. These doctors feel that names, emotions, hobbies, etc. are just distractions that get in the way of their professional duties.

Effective communication in the healthcare setting improves recovery rates and reduces pain and complication rates. (Wilkinson et al, 2003). Many complaints to the NHS are attributed to poor communication. Effective communication is reliant on the nurse working in partnership with the patient. It is essential that the nurse establishes a rapport and most of this will be achieved through the use of facial expressions. In my practice, it is important that develop a therapeutic relationship with the patients so that they can be able to put their trust in me. The therapeutic relationship is solely to meet the needs of the patient. In this relationship, there is a rapport established from a sense of mutual understanding and trust. To build a good nurse-patient relationship, I would have to show qualities of empathy, caring, sincerity and trustworthiness. During practice, if I am approaching a patient and the patient looks anxious, I should approach with empathy.

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.

“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.

Developing long-term relationships with patients is what I’m looking forward to as a Family Physician. Through my experiences as a medical student, intern, hospital volunteer, and observer, my most enjoyable moments are those spent listening to the patient. I have learned that communication, empathy and good listening skills, attributes

"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,

There are a number of key elements that help to provide a framework that enhances truthful communication. Firstly, there is the need to develop open and honest communication from the very beginning of the patient-health professional relationship. Secondly, the health professional needs to use patient penchant as a “weigh” by asking them what they wish to know, how much they wish to know, and determining what they already know. In other words, it is a responsibility of the health professional to get a ‘feel’ for the situation, including the patients’ perception of the situation (Ashcroft, Dawson & Drape 2007).