Effective communication

Effective communication is key to a successful relationship with your patient.  Communicating involves interaction between yourself, the patient, and possibly the patient's family.  Communication can tell you or anyone else how the patient is feeling and what they are trying to say.  Bad communication will hinder relationship and can hinder the outcomes of patients' health.  It causes misunderstandings, distress, and lack of confidence in the care they are receiving.  If you are not truly listening to all their means of communication, something can be missed.  Your communication to them is just as important when giving direction or providing instruction on medications or diet changes.  It's important to evaluate their understanding, too. 

When patients cannot verbally communicate they rely on non-verbal communication, so this is another reason understanding communication is important!  Often, when patients cannot verbally communicate, there are communication boards available to help them point out how they are feeling, what they need, or what they want to do.  Some communication boards can look like the one above.

 All human beings have emotions, and these emotions are most often portrayed though non-verbal communication.  It is very hard for some people to explain or verbally tell other people how they feel.  Thus, non-verbal cues like crying, smiling, crossing their arms over their body, squeezing their eyes closed, or grimacing can be important to note.  

This video represents non-verbal communication and how the look on someone's face or the way someone is dressed can be portrayed as what he/she is trying to say about oneself.  This non-verbal communication video also incorporates some statistics that all of us should keep in mind when we are verbally communicating.  All verbal communication coincides with non-verbal communication.

After reading the links provided and watching some or all of the video, I'd like to have you all respond to how you feel you communicate with people in general and areas where you may need to improve.  Do you notice yourself standing a certain way more often than others? Are you good at maintaining eye contact? Does your facial expression correlate with what you are speaking? Do you speak too softly or loudly? Do you roll your eyes in certain situations? These are all important to consider and it's worth a self assessment to better communicate with all people and your patients.