Brianna Stuflick
HCS/320
Health Care Communication Strategies
November 10, 2014

Effective communication is the way a diverse group of people will be able to understand issues and make decisions for effective change. Communicating effectively helps group members build trust and respect, foster learning, and accomplish goals. Health care communication is very important. There are strong, positive relationships between healthcare team members’ communication skills and the patient’s capacity to follow through with medical recommendations, self-manage a chronic medical conditions, and adopt preventative health behaviors. Studies conducted during the past three decades show that the clinicians’ ability to explain, listen, and empathize can have a profound effect on biological and functional health outcomes as well as patient satisfaction and experience of care. (Clark, 2003) As there are several basic elements of communication three of the most important are; the sender, the message, channel, and feedback, and the receiver. In order for these basic elements to be productive the sender and receiver need to have a shared understanding of the information. Most importantly effective communication involves much more than the elements I have outlined, it also involves the shared understanding of feelings, thoughts, wants, needs, and intentions of the communicators. While keeping those basic elements in mind we are able to utilize most of them to an extent in healthcare. In healthcare communication we have to be much more careful on how our messages come across and also what type of information we are trying to communicate. There are many rules that need to be followed in healthcare communication with the biggest being abiding by the HIPPA laws. HIPPA laws are in place to protect the patients’ medical information also called PHI (protected health information). In most instances it is okay for staff to communicate patient information/treatment within a care facility however if that information needs to be communicated with someone outside that care system or care team, the patient would have to sign a release of information for which allows their information to be shared with other providers or care systems in which are requesting the information. Healthcare staff need to be sure they have a good understanding of the messages relayed between them to ensure patient safety and confidentiality are met at all times. A provider needs to process strong communication skills with very diverse populations. Patients may have a difficult time understanding a diagnosis or certain test results. It is the providers job to relay that information effectively, but also in a manner in which shows the patient that you care. Often times I have run into situations in which patients were unhappy not because of the information that was communicated to them, but how the information was relayed. I feel like a provider could encourage a reluctant patient by empathizing and keeping the lines of patient/provider communication open. It really helps to have a provider that really listens to you and asses the particular situation accordingly. Another way the provider can get to the consumer is by making them feel like they are being heard and that they are getting what they are paying for, so to speak. I know from