Health Care Communication Research Paper

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Personal and Professional Health Care Communication Effective personal and professional health care communication is essential, appearing simple, often misunderstood. Patients, families, and the patient's support system speak with health care workers such as physicians, nurses, or staff discussing test results and treatment options. Health care communication must be clear, concise, and complete. "Communication is a core clinical skill that can be taught and learned." (Rider & Keefer, 2006, p. 624). With this paper I will define health care communication, and the relevancy of effective personal health care communication with other health care professionals, clients, and patients. With this paper I will describe the relevancy of effective…show more content…
The Oxford dictionary (1989) defines communication as "to impart or transmit: to have social dealings with; to succeed in conveying information." The health care professional incorporates the word therapeutic into this definition, which is defined by the Oxford dictionary (1989) as "curative, the art of healing; the branch of medicine concerned with treatment of disease and action of remedial agents in disease or health." Combining the two definitions listed above results in a comprehensive definition of health care communication. As defined by The United States Department of Health and Human Services Office, "Health communication is the art and technique of informing, influencing, and motivating individual, institutional, and public audience about important health issues." Vital health issues include prevention of diseases, health promotion, health care policies, and issues regarding community health care. Within the definition of health care communication lies the methods or strategies to carry out health care communication effectively. Health care communication is the study and use of strategies necessary to inform and guide individual and community decisions that augment…show more content…
Therapeutic communication requires competency testing in conjunction with development of strategies targeted to the level of a health care professionals medical training. Competencies and strategies require teamwork, compromise, and agreement in a variety of medical specialties, and institutions that include the teachings of health care communication. Multiple tools to test the competency of a health care professional's communication skills are available. An example of these tools include one-on-one observation with immediate feedback, role modeling, videotaping with standardized patients, and workshops or in-services. Other tools include role-playing, bedside teaching, and web-based learning. During each health care communication teaching and competency session it is important to have a mentor present to give immediate feedback to the health care

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