COMMUNICATION IN HEALTH CARE

Communications in Health and Social Care Organization

Communications in Health and Social Care Organization

L1. Be able to explore how communication skills are used in health and social care

Apply Relevant Theories Of Communication To Health And Social Care Contexts

Effective communication between physicians and patients contributes to improvement in healthcare services and increases the satisfaction of patients and physicians (Leong, 2005, pp. 180-88). Poor communication could decrease patient satisfaction, increase patient stress and increase the malpractice risk level for health care providers. Face-to-face communication is the most common base of the patient and physician relationship, but it is not necessary for effective communication. For both patient and physician, the use of Internet and email to communicate the symptoms, diagnostic test results and to obtain second opinions on treatment or medication are alternatives to face-to-face encounters. Advanced information technology such as internet has the potential to revolutionize physician-patient communication. In the United Kingdom, most of the people including patients use the Internet on the regular basis, and the use of Internet and email has increased from nine percent in 1995 to 74% in 2005 (Viiji, 2006). As a result, the use of the Internet and e-mail could be an additional channel for communication between physician and patients.

For example, for the patients who have internet access, more than 70% wanted to communicate with their physicians by e-mail, however, only 10.5% of the patients have used e-mail as the communication method with their healthcare provider. For the physicians, a survey of primary care physicians in Boston indicates 3 out of 4 physicians have used e-mail with patients, but with only 5% or less of the overall patient population. From this survey, we find that there is great potential for improving the doctor-patient relationship through the use of e-mail communication (Lin, 2005).

Use Communication Skills In A Health And Social Context

Communication scholars have used the functional approach to attitudes to improve message design and to model persuasive message processing. However, the relevance of the functional approach to the communication discipline could be enhanced by exploring how attitude functions are expressed through verbal communication. The current study deals with the concept of value-expressive communication, which is the expression of personal values through communication about an attitude. Value-expressive communication can be thought of as a communicative reflection of a value-expressive attitude. This study extends research on value expressive communication by exploring its relationship to value-relevant involvement and certain health behaviors (i.e., moderate drinking, condom use, and dieting).

However, there are still more benefits than limits on using e-mail for communication between physicians and patients. Internet/email communication is at least a better idea than the telephone. It is reported that the replacement of telephone by email could be more time efficient because emails could be more flexible and give both patient and physician time to think and respond at a more convenient time (Smith, 2005, pp. 195-202). Compared to telephone, the use of internet/email enables physicians to answer medical questions with less time ...