Professional Communication in Healthcare Settings

Healthcare clients expect competence when seeking healthcare services because decisions about healthcare choices impact their quality of life. Consider that a health professional (HP) may have the education and training required to perform their employment tasks, but if they do not present and communicate in the way a client expects, it may be difficult for the client to trust that the healthcare administrator (HCA) is competent. This is why a set of standards regarding how to dress, behave, and communicate is set by the HP and are the professional expectations to be followed by the staff working for the HP. Clients will only share their health concerns when they believe that their HP is competent and trustworthy. When clients share all of their health concerns, then healthcare providers have a better chance of meeting the goals to provide services that meet their client’s healthcare needs.

You may have heard the expression the customer is always right, this expression sets the tone that customer satisfaction is the focus of the business. When customers are satisfied with the service, they will likely purchase the business goods and/or service again, and refer their friends. Healthcare settings provide health and wellness services as their business. Since many healthcare appointments are paid for using Provincial health insurance plans or third-party insurance plans, there is often a disconnect between people viewing healthcare settings as businesses. This is likely because there does not appear to be a transaction of goods for money directly with the client.

In Australia, the healthcare and social assistance sector is a major employment hub, significantly contributing to the nation’s workforce. This sector plays a crucial role in enhancing the quality of life by delivering essential services to Australians and creating numerous job opportunities. Healthcare enterprises are inherently focused on the client, adeptly managing the complex challenges presented by patients with health issues, diverse perspectives on treatment and care, multifaceted situations, and often, patients are accompanied by their concerned family members. This situation naturally broadens the scope of services to encompass multiple individuals. Maintaining a focus on the patient’s needs is essential in professional communication within this field. Such focused communication is fundamental to providing outstanding customer service, which is key in the healthcare sector’s commitment to efficiently meet the healthcare requirements of its clients.

Since healthcare administrators are often the first point of contact for clients they make the first impression of the service that the client can expect. Healthcare settings are busy and it is easy to get focused on tasks and forget the importance of actively participating in the communication process with other people. Actively communicating with all people is important to professional communication and good customer service. Good customer service is perceived by clients when they leave the healthcare setting satisfied that their healthcare needs have been met by competent and caring professionals.

Models of Communication for the Communication Process

At the core of communication is a process that involves a sender responsible for encoding a message in a way that can be decoded by the receiver of that message (Grimes et al., 2018). Consideration of communicating should be given to the context in which the communication will take place. Let’s review the following two models of communication and apply them to the context of healthcare settings.

• A transmission model of communication is a linear, one-way process in which the focus is on the sender and the message to be communicated to the receiver. The assumption is the receiver receives the message but there is no attempt to clarify understanding of the message or to continue the conversation actively with the receiver (Grimes et al., 2018).
  • A healthcare setting example of the transmission model is a client watching a pre-recorded video explaining how to complete the forms in an intake package before their first appointment.
  • Ideally, in this situation, an interaction model of communication will take place between the client and the HCA once the client checks in for their first appointment and before the client sees the healthcare provider. If the intake form is complete, then the healthcare provider has all of the information needed to proceed with the encounter. The client will perceive an efficient office due to the good customer service that they receive.
• An interaction model of communication is a process in which participants alternate roles of sender and receiver by incorporating feedback to communicate interactively. For example, in the Osgood-Schramm model of communication, one person encodes a message that is received and interpreted, then the receiver encodes a message to respond and sends that feedback back to the first person, who then interprets and may choose to respond by asking a question to continue the conversation (Smith, 2018).  An interaction model of communication is then considered to be a cyclical process.

Professional communication is an essential part of working in health studies. You are entering a “profession,” which means there are certain expectations regarding your professional conduct and, specifically, how you communicate.

Professional communication involves a level of formality and is an essential component of your post-secondary education. It differs from the informal communication you may engage in with friends and family. It also applies to your verbal and written communications, including email.

Professional communication principles include being ethical, truthful, accurate, clear, concise, and comprehensive. For example, you should say or write something clearly and concisely while including all relevant information. You should also have a professional tone conveyed through appropriate greetings, complete sentences, and grammar. To be professional, you need to know your audience; the content and form of your message should be tailored to your audience.

Considerations for Professional Communication

Communication Types

You will encounter many types of communication in healthcare settings and they are generally described as:

• written communication, a message using written words, text, symbols, and images
• verbal/oral communication, a message expressed through spoken words using pitch, pace, and volume to convey a message
• nonverbal communication, a message observed by watching another person’s body language such as facial expressions, eye contact, gestures, and movements (Lapum et al., 2020).

Both sender and receiver need to be aware of the congruency between verbal and nonverbal communication and seek clarification through feedback when there is incongruency perceived. In addition, both sender and receiver need to consider their own bias when encoding and decoding what is being communicated. Preconceived ideas, whether we are aware of them or not, impact our ability to communicate effectively with other people.

Communication Channels

Channels of communication are the conduits for the message to move between the sender and the receiver (Grimes et al., 2018). Channels of communication in healthcare settings generally include:

• telephone
• posted mail
• email
• fax
• social media
• virtual conferencing software
• face-to-face communication.

The sender needs to consider the type of communication, audience, and intended message when choosing a channel to send their encoded message. Choosing a channel that is incongruent with the type of communication, message, or audience may lead to miscommunication and block communication between sender and receiver. Once communication is blocked, the client may interpret receiving poor customer service or worse, not having their healthcare needs met.

For example, it would be incongruent to send confirmation of an urgent specialist appointment to a client using postal mail. Postal mail will take much longer to reach the client than an emailed message or telephone call. Some clients may not have email and require a telephone call. If you have not considered the intended audience’s needs (in this case, the client), they may end up missing their appointment. In the case of postal mail, there may be no opportunity for the client to ask questions or clarify the required preparation for the appointment; this poor customer service may lead to poor healthcare outcomes for the client. The client may have their appointment delayed because they did not receive the information promptly or may come to the appointment unprepared, subsequently requiring the appointment to be rescheduled. One caveat to this is you must have expressed consent to email a message or leave a message on voice mail.

Active Listening

Actively listening and allowing time for interpretation should be stressed no matter which communication type or communication channel is chosen. It is important to listen without distractions, listen for understanding by watching for congruency between spoken words and nonverbals, and seek clarification through feedback when there is any indication of a misunderstanding. This can be challenging in a busy setting, where there are multiple distractors such as telephone, multiple clients, multiple healthcare providers, and many urgent tasks.  Active listening techniques can be learned and practised and is a skill set valued in healthcare settings.

Courteous Communication

Courteous communication is essential to the communication process, professional communication, and good customer service. It is important to remember that clients and their families are often stressed when seeking healthcare services. This may mean that their communication may be discourteous. An HCA demonstrating professional communication will not take this personally and will remain courteous when communicating with others. Courteous communication starts with respecting others, actively listening, acknowledging, and responding with the appropriate amount of friendliness. In uncomfortable communication situations, people often compensate for their uncomfortableness by being overly cheerful and friendly. This can be interpreted as disingenuous and block professional communication.

Demonstrating Professional Communication

You may be asking “How can I demonstrate professional communication as the first point of contact in a healthcare setting?” A healthcare administrator can display professional communication by:

• Consider your role in the communication process and apply the interaction model of communication through active listening and providing feedback when necessary.
• Greeting clients courteously and identifying yourself.
  • In-person, by wearing employee identification, greeting clients with a warm hello and introducing yourself.
  • On the phone, by saying hello, the name of the doctor’s office or department, then state your name and position.
• Keep your tone of voice pleasant, and speech evenly paced, pitch and volume appropriate to what is being communicated. Enunciate clearly, and check that nonverbal body language is congruent with what is being spoken.
• Review written work for grammatical errors, spelling errors, and tone before sending.

Here are some tips to follow in terms of professional communication:

• Introduce yourself by name, role, and institution, such as: “I am Abbie, a Year One health studies student from James Cook University.”
• Address the person you are speaking to formally. Also, do not assume the gender of the person you speak to. For example, you should avoid using terms such as “miss,” “ma’am,” “sir,”  or “mister,” until you know how the recipient identifies and wants to be addressed. If uncertain, introduce yourself fully and ask how the recipient wants to be addressed.
• State your pronouns if applicable and invite others to share their pronouns.
• Clearly articulate your message (what you are trying to say).
• Speak in complete sentences.
• Be honest.
• Be polite. Your communication is a reflection of YOU and your professionalism.

Professional Email Communication

Because a lot of communication occurs electronically, it is essential to consider how to construct an email. Here are some tips:

• Use a professional email address. At most universities, your email with a professor should originate from your university email (not your Gmail or other accounts).
• Begin with a clear description in the subject line. For example, students should include the course code in the subjective line and a brief description identifying the reason for the email (e.g., “HLST 154 Section BN02: question regarding Week 3 quiz”).
• Use a professional email greeting and salutation to address your professor or the salutation preferred by the professor.
  • Appropriate: “Dear Professor Smith” or “Hello, Dr Hall.”
  • Inappropriate: “Hey teacher” or “Hey Lindsey.”
• Introduce yourself so that the email recipient knows who you are. Remember, professors teach several courses and course sections. Thus, you might say, “I am Minta Lee. I am a student in your Wednesday section of HLST 154.”
• Refer to any attachments in the email text.
• Avoid point form, slang, abbreviations, and emoticons.
• Include a signature block at the end of your email identifying your full name, role, institution, and contact information.
• Proofread your email for accuracy, grammar, and spelling.
• Avoid humour and excessive use of exclamation points and all caps. These can easily be misinterpreted.

Addressing and Referring to Your Instructor

Activity: Check Your Understanding

References

Grimes, M., Roch, S., & Simon, D. (2018). Communication for business professionals. https://openlibrary.ecampusontario.ca/catalogue/item/?id=b100f2d8-e81d-f482-99c3-08bdfdac826c

Lapum, J., St-Amant, O., Hughes, M., Garmaise-Yee. J., & Lee, C. (Eds.). (2020). Introduction to communication in nursing. https://openlibrary.ecampusontario.ca/catalogue/item/?id=04e7dd2-8ba)-4be5-87c8-8cda40433a8

Smith, J. (2018). Communication at work. https://openlibrary.ecampusontario.ca/catalogue/item/?id=4a544748-bdcb-fa00-af48-e9c94d751831