Definition of Communication and its Basic Elements Quiz

Definition of Communication

• Communication is the exchange of ideas, opinions, emotions, information, and knowledge between sender and receiver.

Basic Elements of Communication Process

• The Referent: initiates communication between nurse and others (e.g., sights, sounds, odors, time schedule, messages, emotions, ideas).
• The Sender: the person who delivers the message.
• The Message: verbal and nonverbal information expressed by the sender.
• The Receiver: the person to whom the message is sent.
• The Channel: the means of conveying and receiving the message through visual, auditory, and tactile senses.
• The Environment: the physical and emotional atmosphere in which the interaction takes place.
• The Feedback: the message returned to the original sender by the receiver, indicating whether the meaning of the sender's message was understood.

Levels of Communication

• Intrapersonal communication: occurs within individuals (self-talks).
• Interpersonal communication: interaction between two people, often face-to-face, commonly used in nursing situations.
• Public communication: interaction with a large group of people, such as giving a lecture to a room full of students.

Types of Communication

• Upward communication: process by which lower-level company employees can directly communicate with upper management to provide feedback, complaints, or suggestions.
• Downward communication: act of relaying important information from higher levels to lower levels employees.
• Horizontal communication: workplace communication among people, departments, or teams at the same level in an organization.
• Diagonal communication: type of communication that crosses all organizational units and hierarchical levels.

Methods of Communication

• Verbal Communication: encoding of messages into words, either written or spoken.
  • Oral: dialogue, discussion, telephone call.
  • Written: memos, letters, forms, reports, papers, statistics.

Communication and Communication Technology

• Vlogs: video logs, visual versions of blogs, to increase brand awareness and engage with audiences.
• Podcasts: audio-based forms of communication, allowing creative control over content and building stakeholder relationships.
• Conferencing Technology: allows multiple people to communicate in real-time from different locations, saving time and money, and increasing efficiency and productivity.
• Email: popular form of communication technology, sending messages and files over the internet.
• Blogs: personal websites sharing content with anyone interested in the subject from anywhere in the world.
• Forums: online platforms for posting and responding to questions.

E-commerce

• Definition: buying and selling of goods and services, or transmitting of funds or data, over an electronic network.
• Negative effects: deception, identity robbery, pornography, and hacking.

Communication Technology in Healthcare

• Benefits:
  • Easy access to patient medical records.
  • Reduction in medical errors.
  • Greater patient care.
  • Improved patient education.
  • Reduction in cost.
• E-Prescribing: doctors providing medical prescriptions on an electronic device and forwarding it to pharmacies.
• Remote Patient Monitoring: monitoring patients from a remote location, collecting health data and securely transmitting it to the doctor's location.

Test your knowledge on the definition of communication and its basic elements such as the referent, sender, message, and receiver. Explore the exchange of ideas, opinions, emotions, information, and knowledge in the communication process.