The Medical clinics of North America
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Med. Clin. North Am. · Jul 2022
ReviewImproving Communication Skills: A Roadmap for Humanistic Health Care.
This article outlines frameworks that enable health care providers to take steps to improve their health care communication skills, including not only outward-facing conversational tools but also personal awareness. Such awareness includes recognition of bias and emotional reactions, their behavioral consequences, and how to intervene when necessary. The authors describe the intrinsic and extrinsic motivators to improving communication skills, followed by a review of foundational communication microskills and suggestions on how to improve them through the perspectives of the clinician as a self-learner, the clinician with external coaching, and the administrator/leader.
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Medical errors are an unfortunate but common occurrence in health care. It is important to understand what medical errors are and what types of harm can occur to patients. Along with recognition of the error, disclosure is an equally important part of the process. Clinicians should provide open and honest discussion about the events that occurred to patients along with feedback to institutions on ways to prevent such errors in the future.
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Digital communication, facilitated by the rise of the electronic health record and telehealth, has transformed clinical workflow. The communication tools, and the purposes they are being used for, need to account for the benefits, risks, and fault tolerance for each tool. ⋯ These new digital communication tools open the door to novel care models for connecting patients and providers. Most importantly, the way a message is delivered, not the medium through which it is transmitted, is the key to successful communication.
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Giving bad news is a recurrent and predictable task in our lives as humans interacting with other humans. This article presents frameworks and best practices that can help us to deliver bad news in health care in a way that is experienced as caring and empathic, and supports the patient as they adjust to their new reality. Key skills include responding to patients' emotions empathically, structuring bad news conversations, leading with an exploration of the patient's understanding and expectations, delivering the bad news clearly and concisely, and individualizing the balance of empathy and support with providing information and developing a plan.
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Med. Clin. North Am. · Jul 2022
ReviewCommunicating with Community: Health Disparities and Health Equity Considerations.
This article explores why communicating with communities is important to the health of individuals as well as public health, and best practices of how. We outline the use of relevant theoretic frameworks, understanding the role of technological contextual changes, trust despite misinformation, health and digital literacy skills, and working with the community for effective reciprocal communication. Strategies for developing community communication are also enumerated and applied to addressing health disparities.