Communication in Healthcare Professionals

Importance of Communication in Healthcare

• Effective communication leads to shared understanding, better adherence to plans, and improved satisfaction with care.
• Direct benefits of effective communication include improved overall well-being goals and lower costs in healthcare.

Consequences of Communication Breakdown

• Communication breakdown results in increased costs, longer hospital stays, increased readmissions, and lower client and worker satisfaction.
• Patients often judge competence based on 'bedside manner', highlighting the importance of effective communication in healthcare.

Communication Across Professions

• Effective communication is crucial in legal practice, regardless of the area of expertise.
• Companies that communicate effectively experience a 47% higher return to shareholders over a five-year period.
• Oral and written communication skills are highly valued by employers, ranking among the top five sought-after attributes in potential new hires.

Reflective Practice and Critical Thinking

Key Skill: Reflective Practice

• Reflective practice is essential for professional development, requiring contemplation and consideration of actions and their rationale.
• Reflection-on-action involves exploring the reasons behind past actions to inform future decision-making.

Critical Reflective Practice

• Critical reflective practice involves active learning, questioning beliefs, reviewing assumptions, and being open to changing perspectives.
• It heavily relies on critical thinking skills to challenge existing beliefs and values.

Ethical Decision Making

• Critical reflection enables individuals to make decisions based on their own ethics and values, fostering ethical decision-making.

Learning Communication Skills

Experiential Learning Approach

• Skills are best learned through modelling and practice rather than traditional teaching methods.
• Experiential learning emphasizes the importance of practical experience in skill development.

Importance of Safe Learning Environments

• Safe and supportive environments are crucial for effective learning and behavior change.
• Studies show that safe environments play a central role in facilitating learning.

Role of Feedback in Learning

• Feedback is essential for stimulating learning and development, particularly in improving communication skills.

Inductive Cycle

• The inductive cycle is a learning approach where concepts are introduced through specific examples and then generalized to broader applications.