Communication in the Health Care Environment: Effective

Communication in the Health Care Environment:

Effective communication between patients, physicians, family members, and nurses is one of the most important elements in the delivery of care. Actually, the lack of effective communication in the health care sector contributes to poor delivery of care services since it enhances the likelihood of mistakes due to lack of clarity. Therefore, in order for the health care system to accomplish its goal of improved patient outcomes, there must be effective communication. Every stakeholder involved in the health care industry or system acts as an agent of communication either verbally or through non-verbal signals. This is primarily because the delivery of care involves the transmission of millions of messages among several stakeholders on a daily basis. In the modern health care system, the delivery procedures involve several crossing points and patient handoffs among the many health care practitioners.

As part of interpersonal communication, collaborative communication is an important aspect of effective communication in the health care system. The significance of collaborative communication is evident in the fact that care delivery procedures between physicians, nurses, and patients are dependent on this component. Since the roles of various health care practitioners have evolved in the past few years, many of them are working to enhance collaborative communication among each other. The attempts to improve collaborative communication are geared towards enhancing collaborative practice between the many health care practitioners (Ellingson, 2002, p.6).

The collaborative practice among these practitioners is enhanced by collaborative communication through improving nurse-physician relationships. Similarly, supportive and defensive communication enhances the quality of relationships between physicians and nurses who influence the kind of care patients receive.

Effective Communicator:

Communication is an essential part of everyday life across various fields such as the health care environment and business sector. In the business world, communication is crucial in promoting team working and is associated with the growing significance of the customer. In the health care sector, effective communication is crucial in the delivery of care since these processes involve the transmission of millions of messages among various practitioners. Consequently, communication skills have become essential in every sector to an extent that they important elements of every training and education process.

An example of a good communicator in my personal life is a friend who works as a bereavement counselor for men and women grieving the loss of their loved ones. The bereavement counselor deals with various issues since grieving people go through various stages like anger, depression, and disbelief. In addition to these stages, grieving individuals experience tremendous difficulties in accepting the loss of their individuals. The bereavement counselor is an example of an effective communicator because he possesses some characteristics that enable him to have good communication style. Generally, the individual has good communication skills and style that enables him to provide effective and timely support to his clients. Through the effective communication skills, the bereavement counselor shares his interests, opinions, and views efficiently.