Communication is the amalgamated process of thinking, reading, writing, speaking, and listening, the last four represent the elements of basic communication skills. However, given communication holds collective differentiations amongst individuals; a message sent and received can be misinterpreted, the result of differences. Overcoming the obstacle of differences requires incorporating the basic elements of communication and applying specificity, eye contact, body language, tone, and purpose too achieve a shared understanding between sender and receiver, hence effective communication. Although, effective communication is vital in reaching a shared understanding, it is important to remember communication (as a blanket term) is inclusive of personal and professional communication.
Awareness to time, place, and people indicates whether communication is personal or professional. Personal communication is more relaxed whereas professional communication is driven by occupation and more complex. For example, just as personal communication differs from professional communication, occupational differences (medical, hospitality, advertising, etc.) must be aware of their target audience to engage in effective communication. Health communication (HC), although inclusive of the elements of basic and effective communication HC communication differs in that, it is, “shaped by many influences including personal goals, skills, cultural orientation, situational factors, and consideration of other people’s feelings” (du Pr'e, 2005, p. 5). In view of the elements required for the engagement of meaningful, purposeful, and informative HC, a picture emerges revealing the complexity in reaching a shared understanding.
Although, health communication is...
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...ing a shared meaning through communication is vital in health care particularly; if, as professionals, there is an expectation for patients to be active participants in managing their own care.
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There are different forms and reason people communicate in a health and social care environment. Methods of communication used in social care settings range from verbal and non-verbal communication and as such, communication is the exchange of information between people in an organisation (BTEC, 2010). Pearson Education Limited identified the different reasons people communicate which are; to express needs; to share ideas and information; to reassure; to express feelings and/or concerns; to build relationships; socialise; to persuade, argue and inform; to compliment and gain attention; to learn, teach and educate; to ask questions and to share experiences (2013). Hence, Communication is about making contact with others, we communicate to understand and to be understood. Thus, it involves
Conaty-Buck, S. (2009). Unblocking barriers: Clearing the channel to improve communication between practitioners and patients with low health literacy. (Order No. 3364864, University of Virginia). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 121. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/docview/305011452?accountid=14694. (305011452).
Communication encompasses a wide range of processes such as the exchange of information, listening, posing of questions (Fleischer et al., 2009) or use of body language. In a healthcare environment where there are constant interactions among nurses, doctors, patients and other health professionals, professional and effective communication is important in ensuring high quality healthcare standards and meeting the individual needs of patients.
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However, health literacy is more than just read and write; it is the ability to understand and able to use health information to make choices about their health (Benyon, 2014). Low health literacy can have detrimental effect on the health of the client because it may cause misunderstand of the medical label or health information. According to McMurray & Clendon (2015), health literacy divided into three different levels which are functional, interactive/communicative and critical health literacy. As for functional levels, it is the most general and fundamental level for the general public because individuals need to receive and understand the information of health such as risk of health decision, consent forms, health instruction or medicine labels. (McMurray & Clendo , 2015) Turning to the next level, interactive/communicative health literacy, mainly involved personal skills to spread health knowledge to the community, and also , people are able to influence social norm and help others individuals to develop their personal health capacity. Because of this, understanding of how organization work and resounding communication skill which can help to support others and knowing how to get different health services other individuals need (McMurray & Clendo , 2015). The third level is critical health literacy, mainly divided to
The most common problem in medicine these days is communication from the provider and medical staff to the patient receiving and understanding the information. That’s why I’m going to write about health literacy. Health literacy is the capability to obtain, process, and realize the fundamental health information and services to make suitable health decisions. This is necessary to encourage people and societies to be healthy. Health care institutions and public health systems perform a critical role in health literacy because they can make it easier or more complex for people to find and use health information and services. There are national data to
Health literacy is a term not widely understood by the general population. It is defined as “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information needed to make appropriate health decisions and services needed to prevent or treat illness,” (About health literacy, 2014). A person’s level of health literacy is based on their age, education level, socioeconomic standing, and cultural background. Patients with low health literacy have a more difficult time navigating the health care system. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this group of patients may find it harder to find medical services and health care providers, fill out health forms, provide their complete medical history with their providers, seek preventative care, understand the health risks associated with some behaviors, taking care of chronic health conditions, and understanding how to take prescribed medications (About health literacy, 2014). It is to a certain extent the patient’s responsibility to increase their own health literacy knowledge. But to what extent can they learn on their own? Those working in the health field have been trained to navigate the health system and understand the medical terms. They have the knowledge and capability to pass on that understanding to their patients. Health care professionals have a shared responsibility to help improve patients’ health literacy.
Communication is the process of conveying information to each another using words, actions, or by writing the information down to be read by another person. Communication is something that most people do at some point each day, and is an important part of life especially in a working environment. “The concept of communication is an essential part of every profession, and it is required to foster and maintain healthy relationships”( Jasmine, 2009, para. 1).
University of Phoenix. (2014). Syllabus. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, HCS/320 Health Care Communication Strategies website.
“Effective communication is the foundation for any relationship in healthcare…” (Windover, Boissy, Rice, Gilligan, Velez, & Merlino. 2014) Without communication, it is challenging to get things done because no one knows what the other people in the group are thinking. For some, communication does not come naturally. For this reason, there are articles on how to be a better communicator. According to Karie Tennant, and Alisa Marquez, “communication is a two-way process” (2017). In this process one person should be the informer and the other needs to be an active listener. In order to be an active listener this person needs to provide the informer with feedback on what they just said. This way the informer knows the listener was really listening to what they said. The informer also has the job of making what they want to say clear and concise as well as having the correct tone to get the message across. It is always important for one to voice their opinion, but they need to also be respectful of others
Interpersonal communication is one of the significant skills while communicating with other individuals. It normally covers an extensive area and includes both verbal and non-verbal communication. Body language and facial expression may affect the accurateness of the message transmission directly. Interpersonal communication skills normally ensure that the message is sent and received correctly without any alteration thus improving the communication efficiency. Learning diverse aspects of interpersonal communication has greatly aided me in better understanding of what it consists. I am capable of applying the knowledge gained from this course to my personal experiences. This paper reflects on my personal experience in learning interpersonal communication.
Health literacy plays an important role in individuals’ decision-making. The scope of health literacy does not limit to traditional medical perspective. In fact, it has extended from the basic understanding of diseases and medications to all aspects that affect health. As one of the key social determinants, health literacy has huge impact on health and well-being. Its influence is associated with disease prevention, healthy lifestyle promotion, policy making, etc. This essay will first discuss the concept of health literacy and the consequences that link to it, and then give a strategy—designing user-centred messages in education, to improve health literacy,
As we use communication in our day-to-day living, there should be an assurance that the sender and the receiver should be able to communicate properly or else communication is not effective after all. The sender should be able to deliver the message as clear and concise as possible so that the receiver will understand and grasp the message well. On the other hand, the receiver should be wise enough and process the message well so as to avoid misunderstanding. However, we could not avoid that there are certain barriers when it comes to communication- different values, beliefs and personality, bad grammar and wrong word choice are few of the factors that complicate communication. Consequently, there is a way to avoid complications in communication. It is advisable to have communication face-to-face. In this certain manner...
Clearly, communication plays a significant role in every aspect of our life. Communication is the simply act of conveying information from one person to another by using voice (verbally), gesture or body language (nonverbally), books or magazines (written), pictures (visually). The better communication skills that one has is the better the information could be transferred and received. The ability to convey information successfully and clearly is a fundamental life skill and should not be underestimated. Additional, effectively communication is the key to solve problems in any situation. With good communication skills, you can absolutely improve your professional life as well as strengthen your social and family relation ship. Indeed, communication allows us to relate and understand each other. “It also provides us with a significant frame of reference and relational context that sustain our identities.” (Imberti, 2007)