What is communication skills?
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Communication skills are verbal and
non-verbal words, phrases, voice tones, facial expressions, gestures,
and body language that you use in the interaction between you and
another person.
Verbal communication is the ability to
explain and present your ideas in clear English, to diverse audiences.
This includes the ability to tailor your delivery to a given audience,
using appropriate styles and approaches, and an understanding of the
importance of non-verbal cues in oral communication. Oral communication
requires the background skills of presenting, audience awareness,
critical listening and body language.
Non-verbal communication is the ability to
enhance the expression of ideas and concepts without the use of coherent
labels, through the use of body language, gestures, facial expressions
and tone of voice, and also the use of pictures, icons, and symbols.
Non-verbal communication requires background skills such as audience
awareness, personal presentation and body language.
Effective communication is an essential part
of building and maintaining good physician-patient and
physician-colleague relationships. These skills help people to
understand and learn from each other, develop alternate perspectives,
and meet each others' needs.
Hidden agendas, emotions, stress, prejudices, and
defensiveness are just a few common barriers that need to be overcome in
order to achieve the real goal of communication, namely mutual
understanding. High Performers master and continually practice the
basics, as well as prepare for these communication pitfalls. Just as
successful physicians routinely practice basic medical skills,
High-Performers understand that they too must pay attention to
communication skills or they risk getting out of shape pretty quickly.
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Communication
skills in healthcare
Communication skills in a healthcare
setting include the way you use to:
- Explaining diagnosis, investigation and
treatment.
-
Involving the patient in the decision-making.
-
Communicating with relatives.
-
Communicating with other health care professionals.
-
Breaking bad news.
-
Seeking informed consent/clarification for an
invasive procedure or obtaining consent for a post-mortem.
-
Dealing with anxious patients or relatives.
-
Giving instructions on discharge.
-
Giving advice on lifestyle, health promotion or risk
factors.
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 In
real medical practice, dealing with difficult patients are seen
almost daily.
Difficult patients are ordinary people who come to your health
institute, whatever is that, because they have to, not because they want to.
Sometimes, they have even been brought in unwillingly by a family member or
a friend. They come in with their vast range of different personalities,
cultural background, and current emotional state.
Being in a health care facility adds more worries and
stresses due to lost time, expenses, and more importantly losing control. People
are usually in control of what they have to do now, well at least they think so.
But on the moment they put their feet in front of your registration desk, they
lose this control. We, the strangers, take control!... We give instructions and
orders to follow starting right from that registration desk... Give me your ID,
.. insurance,.. wait there,.. sit there,.. you have to wait,.. take off your
cloths,.. touching them, .. etc.
So, by the time of their medical encounter with us, the
physicians, they are already up on the edge in their stress and comfort levels.
And guess what, we as the highest ranking authority here and thus have to
receive all the blame and deal with them in these difficult patient
situations. Although, some of these people will look like trouble makers by
personality, most of the exaggeration is due to the building up stress and
worry, or simply part of their illness!
 Dealing
with difficult patients in medical encounters needs a lot of communication
skills to sooth them and calm them down or to let them at ease and open for
effective communication. However, although this is part of our duty in addition
to establishing rapport and friendly environment, it is not our goal in medical
encounters! We are not social workers. Our goal is to figure out what is going
wrong with them physically and psychologically in order to help them. These good
communication skills are not the goal, they are wonderful magical means to
achieve our goal, the patient well being. Communication skills are our vehicle
to take a thorough medical history, perform accurate safe physical examination,
and assure patient compliance, and yet efficiently in respect to our time and
resources limits.
As you may realize now, it is important to learn the
specific communication skills to deal with these
difficult patients in real life. This will make us friendly caring
clever doctors and build a good reputation while staying thorough, focused,
organized, and efficient. This is what successful considerate physician know
very well!
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communications skills,
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Difficult Patients
Situations in Medical Encounters
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- The Silent or Reticent
patient.
- The Rambling or
Talkative patient.
- The Vague patient.
- The Angry patient.
- The Depressed or
Sad patient.
- The Denial patient.
- The Anxious patient.
- Patient with Somatization.
- The Dependent and Demanding
patient.
- The Dramatic or Manipulative
patient.
- The Long Suffering, Masochistic
patient.
- The Orderly and Controlled
patient.
- The Manic, Restless patient.
- The Guarded Paranoid patient.
- The Superior patient.
- Breaking bad news.
- Caring for the dying patient.
- Conflicted Roles.
- Solving Conflicts.
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How to improve my
communication skills?
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malpractice, medical doctor, medical students, healthcare professionals,
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 We,
doctors, nurses, medical students, and other healthcare professionals, all
grew up with a set of communication skills we obtained and learned from our
environments. We consider that as part of our personality! We think it is
part of our genetics! That is what I am, this were I come from!, this is
me!, thus, that what I can accomplish! . Unfortunately, not all of
our communication skills are right and can serve us to achieve our goals. In
fact, unconsciously, most are working against us! More worse, some give
others the wrong impression about who we are!!
"That is what I am!, this were I come from!,
this is me!" are wrong phrases. You have now achieved a position,
whether it is a medical student or graduate, because of your efforts to
continuously aim for the best, teaching yourself new sciences and
training yourself new techniques. So, why you stop at communication
skills?!!.
Communication skills are learnable,
trainable, adaptable just like any other skill!. Yes, it is not easy to
change yourself. But it wasn't easy to be in your current academic
achievement either. You can teach yourself these skills, learn them,
adopt them, and make them part of the new you! The new medical student
or graduate, or even a new start towards being a successful physician!.
There are hundreds of books and courses to help you
improve your communication skills. Also, there are hundreds of
professional that are willing to sit with you, observe the way you
communicate and pinpoint what is wrong and needs to be changed, what
needs improvements, and what is pretty good! We highly recommend to look
for one of these resources and ideally make it a life long continuous
fine tuning of your communication skills.
 Observe
yourself as you go through your day and assess if you are achieving what
you aimed for?!... It is difficult to identify our weakness and
strength!.. Ask your friends to observe you and criticize your
communication skills!.. Be open minded for critics!.. Do that favour for
them too!... Observe them and on the same time watch what skills that
they have and worked for them that you are missing?!..
Don't leave thinks in the dark hoping for thinks
just to go fine. Act now. It may take some time but it is so so
rewarding!!
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But I need it now!
However, you need a
practical quick guide specific for your OSCEs for now and for your
future/current real patient medical encounters.
You need to master
the very needed communication skills to make an impact on your patients
to be considered a friendly physician.
You want to
effectively communicate with your patients to achieve better data
gathering to be considered a clever thorough physician.
You want to
effectively communicate with your patients to achieve better compliance
and health outcomes to be considered a caring respectful physician.
You want to
effectively communicate with your patients to achieve better
physician-patient relationship and rapport in order to receive free
trusted ongoing publicity in stead of complaints and law suits.
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Almost every day, you, medical students, residents, and
physician face 'Difficult Patients' in your clinical practice. All OSCE
organizers, like USMLE, MCC, GMC, and medical schools, include difficult to deal
with patient scenarios in their exams to test your communication skills and
reactions.
Limited resources are available out there to help you
deal with these specific healthcare situations. Most of these resources deal
with the etiology behind these situations hoping that the understanding of
the etiologies will help you to figure out the right ways to deal with them!
Learning to take medical history or perform a physical
exam is easy. You will be amazed how well your colleagues is doing with these
clinical tasks. There are tons of resources to train yourself these skills. But
what about communication skills with difficult patients? You will be amazed how
bad your colleagues is doing with these clinical tasks that need special
communication skills!.. Imaging yourself mastering these skills!.. Definitely,
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Click here to Buy the full version and save your time!
Download a sample version
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malpractice, medical doctor, medical students, healthcare professionals, health
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What are the communication
skills that will be assessed in OSCEs?
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The OSCE exam is an assessment of clinical
knowledge, skills, and attitude. The communication skills you
demonstrate and the process you go through in obtaining a history or
performing a physical examination are more important than determining a
diagnosis.
Communication skills are verbal and
non-verbal words, phrases, voice tones, facial expressions, gestures,
and body language that you use in the interaction between you and
another person, in OSCEs, it is usually a simulated patient or other
healthcare professionals such us a nurse. Your approach to the patient
will be assessed all through the examination, but in some stations
communication will be the main skill for which you will be awarded
marks. In OSCEs, as well as in life, two aspects of the communication
skills are important. The way you choose for your approach to reach the
other person, and the effects and outcome of your efforts.
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The OSCEs examiners
will be considering your:
Approach to the patient
You should:
- Introduce and orientate the patient and yourself
- Establish an attentive, respectful and
non-judgmental relationship
- Acknowledge the patient's emotions and concerns
Listening, questioning and diagnosing
You should:
- Ensure you have understood the patient's
symptoms/problem and concerns
- Summarize and clarify understanding
Explaining and advising
You should:
- Enable the patient to understand the
problem/situation
- Reassure appropriately
- Summarize and clarify understanding
Involving patient in management
You should:
- Explore the patient's expectations/concerns
- Propose/explain management plan clearly
- Explore the patient's response
- Respect the patient's autonomy, and help him or
her to make a decision based on available information and advice
- Summarize and clarify understanding
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