Communication In Healthcare Settings

Introduction:

According to National Health Service (NHS), communication in a care setting is a multidimensional process that is proved to be one of the most important tools in improving patient's health and wellbeing, through assuring the delivery of compassionate care. Adequate and regular communication among the patients, physicians, and healthcare staffs is important for improving the way of sharing information regarding patient health, safety and needs. This report is going to discuss the importance of communication in the healthcare setting. Moreover, this study will evaluate the effectiveness of a better communication process in the care setting, by using the NHS and NICE guidelines about the communication in healthcare. Finally, this study would make a suitable recommendation for improving eth communication process in healthcare for dealing with ever-increasing critical disease and the challenges associated with the communication process.

Communication is critical to good healthcare, through which health professionals can understand the health needs, physical and psychological status and current health issues of patients (NHS, 2018). It is the multidimensional process which influences the different aspects of health care, such as treatment process, information system, medications, therapies and administration of the entire healthcare framework. Communication in healthcare settings is important in the following ways:

Communication in the care setting is important for conducting one-to-one setting, in which people associated with the healthcare system develop the face to face communication (Bagot et al. 2018). This process assists the nurses, physicians, health staffs and patients to communicate with each other formally and informally. Through one to one setting, it is possible to understand the actual needs and physical issues of the patient.

Highly organised decision sharing process is important outcomes of effective communication, in which, nurse, doctors and the health staffs can share different information regarding patient health, their health needs, healthcare issues, the requirement of the care home and managerial issues (Bishop et al. 2018).

Communication in the care setting is important for maintaining the string information sharing system. Through which nurses can provide accurate and authentic information to the patient and their family regarding the patient's health. Through conducting, verbal, non-verbal and formal communication process, health staffs and nurses can transfer the healthcare information among one another which makes the transparency in the information sharing system.

Types of communication in care settings:

There are different types of communication in the healthcare setting, such as : Verbal communication: As stated by Foster et al. (2016), Verbal communication is important for health professionals and nurse to make the face to face interaction with the patient and their families. Through this communication process, the patient can express their decision, preference, needs and health issues. On the other hand, the nurses and health professional also can share their decision, information regarding patient health and ideas about the betterment of treatment process through verbal communication

Non-verbal communication:

In case of the patient with disabilities, verbal communication cannot be used, as the patient may be unable to speak or to provide the right information due to physical and psychological illness (Green et al. 2015). In this process, communication is done through using the sign, posture, facial expression and symbols. In the case of the patient dementia patient, both the verbal and nonverbal communication can be used. On the other hand, in case of patients who are unable to speak, nonverbal communication is used, in which nurses need to use the facial expression, several symbols and signs to make the patient understand about eth instruction and treatment process.

Formal and informal communication:

Formal communication is generally used for hospital policies and documents. Based on the NHS Communication guidelines, health care staffs and nurses need to use formal communication in order to make the patient and their families understand the hospital policies and guidelines.

Some people are unable to speak or communicate properly, in which aspects the nurses and health professional needs to provide technology-aided communication devices to the patient such as hearing device or speaking device (Hartung et al. 2018). The patient who is unable to speak, through using technologies, there thoughts and feelings can be represented through the computer.

National Health Service (NHS) has set guidelines and policies for the betterment of communication in healthcare settings. NHS England Accessible Information and Communication Policy, has taken the clear, transparent and fair approach to the provision of the useful and assessable communication process. as stead by Hsieh and Terui (2015), NHS England Patient and Public Participation and Insight Group, has set the principles for communication in the care setting, in which the healthcare staffs and nurses would focus on conducting clear and transparent communication-based information system which will improve the patient health and wellbeing. Based on the National Health Service and Community Care Act (1990), focuses on improving eth healthcare service through improving eth communication process in the care setting. NICE (), has set legal obligations for the healthcare staffs and professional to conduct different types of the communication process, such as verbal, non-verbal, formal and informal communication in terms of understanding the actual health needs of patients.

SAFER communication guidelines are set by the Department of Health (DOH), UK. In order to assist the healthcare professionals and staffs to form effective communication in terms of providing compassionate care and support to the patient (Pollock and Wilson, 2015). The guidelines of the SAFER communication are as follows:

Evaluation of the challenges in healthcare communication:

Different challenges are associated with maintaining effective communication in care settings such as: Lack of trained healthcare staffs and nurses leads to poor communication with the patient and their family, that makes the physicians unable to understand the actual health needs and current health issues of the patient (Hartung et al. 2018). Lack of support from the patient and their family to make clear communication with doctors and nurses can also affect the usefulness of the communication process. In many times, patients and their families are not intended to reveal all the health-related information to doctors and nurse, which affect the overall success of the communication process in improving the care settings (Foster et al. 2016). Poor coordination among between nurse and doctors can make the possible constraints in maintaining the clear communication and information sharing process.

Recommendation:

Health care staffs should be provided with proper training and self-assessment process which will assist them, to make effective communication with all the patient and their families. The information system of healthcare centres and the hospital should be reformed with proper communication process, in which health staffs and professional can get all the possible update of information regularly on patient's health, tenement process and recovery. High skilled and well-trained care manager needs to needs to be appointed in each healthcare department, who will mediate the communication between eth health professions and nurse. The weekly meeting should be conducted with the patient's family to provide them with the update about the patient's recovery, health condition and needs.

Conclusion:

Communication in a care setting is one of the most important tools, which assist health professional and healthcare staffs to provide compassionate care to the patient. There are different types of communication in healthcare such as verbal, nonverbal, technology aided and formal. Through the effective communication process, health professionals can understand the actual health needs of the patient and can set the approver care setting for their recovery.

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