Effective skills needed in Healthcare

 Communication is an essential key to everyday life. In the healthcare field numerous professionals and their patients strive to build a trusting and open relationship with each other. Employees in hospitals, nursing homes and other medical settings need to communicate regularly with patients and residents about medical procedures, daily care tasks and the patient's overall health.

Communication, listening and empathetic response skills, enables us to respond to patients (and others) in a caring and respectful manner – a powerful and integral part of building relationships. And thus, the communication skills a professional possesses can play a pivotal role in determining how information is exchanged, and how confidence is built between patient and professional.

Types of Communication:

Formal vs. Informal

• Formal communication is often found in hospital policies and documents. This type of communication can be very rigid, leaving little or no room for feedback or deviation. Health care workers use formal communication when explaining hospital policies to patients and their families. Informal communication is less structured, and often allows for more interaction and communication between patients and caregivers. Conversing with patients about their interests, families and daily activities generally occurs using informal communication.
  

Technology-Aided

• Not all patients are able to communicate on their own with their caregivers. In these instances, many use technology-aided communication devices to hear or speak. For example, patients who are unable to speak may type their thoughts into a computer that announces them out loud.
  

Signs and Symbols

• Many health care settings are full of signs and symbols that communicate quickly what a patient or visitor needs to know. Using this type of communication is beneficial in care settings, as it allows individuals who are unable to read or understand a specific language to still know what is being communicated.