COMMUNICATION

Communication

Communication

National policy makers and psychiatric educators have established the goals of teaching and promoting interdisciplinary care as high priorities. This article describes the implementation of an interprofessional seminar for which the dual aims were to provide a knowledge base for treating individuals with serious mental illness and to reach how to work collaboratively with other disciplines. The realization that communication within the healthcare community is lacking and in serious need of improvement is a growing concern for healthcare providers and professionals across the board. Current literature shows a trend towards promoting interdisciplinary training and collaboration across disciplines.

For many years the position of physician and nurse were the two primary professional relationships found within the medical setting. Clearly there were other allied healthcare professionals within the healthcare arena; however, for the most part it was the professional relationship between the physician and the nurse that set the tone and culture of the healthcare facilities.

A set of Leading Health Indicators, which focus on key health improvement activities and are described in Healthy People 2010: Understanding and Improving Health, all depend to some extent on effective health communication. The promotion of regular physical activity, healthy weight, good nutrition, and responsible sexual behavior will require a range of information, education, and advocacy efforts, as will the reduction of tobacco use, substance abuse, injuries, and violence. For example, advocacy efforts to change prices and availability of tobacco and alcohol products have resulted in lower consumption levels. Effective counseling and patient education for behavior change require health care providers and patients to have good communication skills. Public information campaigns are used to promote increased fruit and vegetable consumption (5-A-Day for Better Health!), higher rates of preventive screening (mammogram and colonoscopy), higher rates of clinical preventive services (immunization), and greater rates of adoption of risk-reducing behaviors (Back to Sleep and Buckle Up for Safety).

Health communication alone, however, cannot change systemic problems related to health, such as poverty, environmental degradation, or lack of access to health care, but comprehensive health communication programs should include a systematic exploration of all the factors that contribute to health and the strategies that could be used to influence these factors. Well-designed health communication activities help individuals better understand their own and their communities' needs so that they can take appropriate actions to maximize health.

Issues and Trends

While the nurse-physician relationship dominated the healthcare setting, historically it has been a professional relationship that has struggled with communication and collaboration issues. Current literature research indicates recognition of these deficits and the need to not only enhance and improve communication and collaboration between physicians and nurses, but healthcare professionals from other disciplines. In contrast to the early history of healthcare where the physician and nurse were the primary healthcare providers, the healthcare field has greatly expanded as evidenced by the presence of numerous healthcare professional and allied healthcare professionals from a multitude of varied disciplines.

Having worked in all aspects of Mental Health: in-patient psychiatric, out-patient, Detox, Rehabilitation, Aftercare, Crisis Intervention, Crisis Management, Psychiatric Emergency Services and out-patient ...