COMMUNICATING IN HEALTH CARE

Communicating in Health and Social Care Organisations

Communicating in Health and Social Care Organisations

Essay Section 1 (LO 1)

Case Study: Hospital Appointment

Apply relevant theories of communication to health and social care contexts

For health care staff, building communication skills is very necessary. It is an essential part of their profession. They should be aware of verbal and non verbal communication with reference to all the communicational theories.

Several approaches are there by means of which we can establish a sound communication relationship between service providers and service users. Department of health and social care various kinds of service users Interpersonal skills are also required for practicing effective social care and health by the use of skills, knowledge and experience.A variety of strategies also need to be implemented by a practitioner in order to meet professional needs related to health and social care. It is the task of every health care individual to promote positive working relationships.

The skills and strategies are established by different theories of communication. The social and health care sector utilizes humanistic, cognitive, behaviourist and psychoanalytical theories. In the case study and the video, several communication gaps are visible because these theories of communication were not taken into consideration. These communication gaps have resulted because of sheer negligence from the side of the doctors.

In the video, the doctors are shown to be having several apprehensions related to communication. They stand at a distance from one another, from the exact situation, and from the junior health care staff. This is because they have not discussed the situation with one another beforehand. It is generally assumed that communicating with each other needs a lot of time. Communication, in this perspective, is seen to be a vain activity. The expert doctors presume that as they are experts they need not to discuss the details. They can manage each and everything there and then. Conversation, interaction and consultation is taken negatively because the doctors assume that they are not the ones to be seeking for guidance. However, they do not realize that perfection does not exist. Human factors always intervene and create hindrances which are out of control. These human factors can be considerably reduced if proper communication is established.

In the case study, the doctor has no patience to listen to the patient's companion. He has mistakenly assumed his discretion to be correct. He misbehaves with the patient and her husband. He does not take into account the adverse medical condition of the patient and very bluntly regards her to be drunk. He does not show that respect and care for the patient that people associated with health care must show.

In the video, the doctors did not follow the humanistic theory of communication. the humanistic theory is relevant to situations in which individuals get involved in self-esteem, honour, self-actualization, dignity, self concept, etc. Humanistic theory promotes the concept that every individual has the capability of extending positive contributions n the society and by being a lovable member of the community ...