Developing Effective Communication in Health and Social Care

Developing effective communication in Health and social care.

1. Effective Communication in Health and social care

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Hannah Goodhall  [pic 3]

Communication

Communication is the exchange of language, messages or information by writing, language, speech, signals and behaviour. It is used in health and social care to communicate between service users and service providers to ensure they build a positive relationship and are understanding the service. In the day centre clear communication is vital between the elderly service users and the service providers.

Types of communication

One to one communication will be used multiple times in the day centre. For example, if a service provider is talking to a patient then they will most likely use one to one to keep confidentiality between service user and service provider.

Informal Communication would mainly be used between different service providers. For example, if a service user, uses more than one service then the services will have to communicate well between each other to discuss the service users care. As they are both health professionals they won’t be using formal language.

Group communication would be used in group therapy sessions or when talking with a service user and their family. Group communication is different than one to one. This is because in one to one you are addressing one person which will only be of one age. However, when its group you could be addressing people of different age groups and abilities. Therefore, you are needing to make sure that if people have problems communicating that you need to address them e.g. if someone is deaf you need to provide a type of communication such as sign language.

Formal communication is used between service users and service providers when they first meet. I say first meet because after they become comfortable with the service provider they will most likely switch to informal communication.  

Effective communication-The right people, getting the right information at the right time.

Interpersonal skills

Interpersonal skills are skills used by a person to interact with others in an effective way. In the day centre, interpersonal communication is used all the time. For example, service providers need to communicate with the user of the day centre in order to provide the correct care for them. This can include anything from what food they would like to when they need their medication. Interpersonal communication is effective when done correctly, this table shows positive communication and negative communication.