Health Care Communication: Overview

The patient who is distrusting of their nurse will not be compliant or may not take part in self-care. Nurses communicate each day with patients and coworkers. Building effective communication skills in the healthcare industry can lead to optimal outcomes. The first step to communication is to determine what the message to be conveyed is and put it in a logical order. Make the message brief. Choosing your words correctly will allow the receiver to understand what you are saying. Be considerate of the patient’s education, cultural, knowledge base and level of understanding.Health Care Communication: Overview

When you begin to speak be sure that you have the attention of the receiver, at the end of the conversation get feedback to ensure that your message was conveyed correctly. This paper will discuss the definition of health care communication, the relevancy of effective personal healthcare communication with other health care professionals and patients, relevancy of effective healthcare communication to health outcomes, and how the lack of effective personal and professional healthcare communications contributes to poor health outcomes. Healthcare communication can be defined as when an individual seeks information n health related issues.

According to Healthy People 2010, (n. D. , overview), “Health communication encompasses the study and use of communication strategies to inform and influence individual and community decisions that enhance health. “The dissemination of information can be done via public communication or in an organizational context. Public communication refers to, “presentations, speeches, and public addresses made by individuals on health-related topics”. (Morehouse, 1998, p. 4). Health communication in the organizational context refers to how administration or staff provides information in regard to healthcare.