Communication is a fundamental human skill. It is a vital necessity to existence and its continuance. Without communication the humankind would fail as it exists today and development would never take place.
Reasons for Communication
In the healthcare industry communication is key in every relationship:
Leaders: Communicate to ensure the correct directions, teaching, guidance and patient care exist. They do this in all kinds of ways. They will communicate with clients with discussions, visits, written paperwork, and review of doctor recommendation in a written or verbal form.
They also need to communicate with staff to make sure the client care is correct. This will include instructions, training and procedures in place.
It is also important to communicate with client families for many reasons. It is important to communicate in emergency times with doctors, paramedics and nurses.
Health Carers: Need to communicate with one another to make sure care is efficient and consistent. We also use written communication in ways such as medical records and care plans to ensure clients are given the correct medication and log books that ensure the treatments are applied sufficiently.
We also need to communicate when problems arise to alert the correct people of the situations to gain the best possible outcome.
On a basic level, rotas are regularly discussed to make sure client needs are met and as a team we are able to work out individual allocations and highlight where a problem occurs. For example a delayed staff member can ask or seek assistance to meet another call when required.
Clients: Will communicate for many reasons. Firstly to discuss their needs, this might be through talking and writing. It might also be when onsite and the client needs something then it maybe through conversation but it also might be through pointing, sign language, writing or signalling pain as an example.
They will also just communicate on a basic level. We are visiting them for many reasons and as a basic human action it is seen as polite by them. They may also be lonely and crave human interaction. We as a staff will happily indulge in conversations and interaction as professionals.
Conclusion
As mentioned several times people communicate all kinds of forms as an essential life necessity. In healthcare it is vital from leadership to clients in any kind of need level to ensure the they get the sufficient care even when they are not able to communicate in any form.
Communication and Relationships
Relationships are only built through communication. In the workplace communication is the