Medical Communication in Clinical Contexts

Successful communication can help to prevent health problems, promote healthy behaviors and lifestyles, and overcome health challenges. However, various issues have created obstacles for the promotion of health communication, including low health literacy, the reluctance of patients to admit their lack of understanding, the overestimation by health professionals of a patient’s level of understanding, and insufficient health literacy tools, to name a few. It is thus essential to convey the latest communication models and practices being used to increase health literacy and provide adequate health information to society. Health Communication Models and Practices in Interpersonal and Media Contexts: Emerging Research and Opportunities explores and analyzes the fundamentals, models, and dimensions of health communication and offers practical solutions for better communications with direct outcomes in the optimization of citizens’ health literacy. The book also discusses and proposes more effective health communication models and practices as a tool for the construction of more solid and evident health outcomes. Covering topics such as cancer prevention, health professionals’ communication, and models of health communication, this text is essential for health professionals, communication professionals, professors, teachers, researchers, academicians, and students.

An authoritative survey of different contexts, methodologies, and theories of applied communication The field of Applied Communication Research (ACR) has made substantial progress over the past five decades in studying communication problems, and in making contributions to help solve them. Changes in society, human relationships, climate and the environment, and digital media have presented myriad contexts in which to apply communication theory. The Handbook of Applied Communication Research addresses a wide array of contemporary communication issues, their research implications in various contexts, and the challenges and opportunities for using communication to manage problems. This innovative work brings together the diverse perspectives of a team of notable international scholars from across disciplines. The Handbook of Applied Communication Research includes discussion and analysis spread across two comprehensive volumes. Volume one introduces ACR, explores what is possible in the field, and examines theoretical perspectives, organizational communication, risk and crisis communication, and media, data, design, and technology. The second volume focuses on real-world communication topics such as health and education communication, legal, ethical, and policy issues, and volunteerism, social justice, and communication activism. Each chapter addresses a specific issue or concern, and discusses the choices faced by participants in the communication process. This important contribution to communication research: Explores how various communication contexts are best approached Addresses balancing scientific findings with social and cultural issues Discusses how and to what extent media can mitigate the effects of adverse events Features original findings from ongoing research programs and original communication models and frameworks Presents the best available research and insights on where current research and best practices should move in the future A major addition to the body of knowledge in the field, The Handbook of Applied Communication Research is an invaluable work for advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and scholars.

Based on detailed multi-disciplinary analyses of more than 800 recorded handover interactions, audits of written handover documentation, interviews and survey responses, the contributing authors identify features of effective and ineffective clinical handovers in diverse hospital contexts. The authors then translate their descriptive findings into practical protocols, communication strategies and checklists that clinicians, managers and policy makers can apply to improve the safety and quality of clinical handovers. All the contributors are affiliated with the International Research Centre for Communication in Healthcare (IRCCH), an international multidisciplinary organisation of over 90 healthcare professionals from more than 17 countries committed to improving improving communication in healthcare systems around the world. 'The authors have created a new and tightly woven systems safety net that will, if implemented, significantly reduce the occurrence of errors resulting from cumulative communication failures.' -H. Esterbrook Longmaid III, MD, FACR, President of Medical Staff, Beth Israel Deaconess-Milton Hospital, Milton, MA USA 'Uncommonly valuable for the rigorous, original communication research it reports and for the careful translation of the research findings into practical strategies that actually improve clinical handovers in the real world of practice.' -Professor Suzanne Kurtz, Washington State University 'This clear, plain English book is an outstanding resource for the training of all involved in healthcare.' -Elizabeth Trickett, (Former) Director of Safety and Quality, ACT Health, Australia

This book analyses medical communication from a range of innovative perspectives, not only from a merely linguistic angle, but also from a social and cultural standpoint, with an emphasis both on the doctor-patient relationship and on the social relevance of the other communicative links existing between the many communities involved in this type of interaction.

This UK text offers clear guidelines on the key skills behind effective health communication and it presents a realistic account of how nurses and related health professionals can enhance their communications in brief, ordinary, and effective ways. Key theories and approaches to health communication are discussed, drawing on relevant material from a variety of health contexts and settings. Real-life interaction and transcription is used to promote data-driven learning. Strategies for brief and effective communication in clinical situations are explored. The book gives suggestions and examples throughout on how to communicate with clients, empowering the student to adopt these approaches within a clinical situation.

This textbook provides the kind of comprehensive and in-depth preparation your students need to communicate optimally with patients, families, and fellow providers. Combining principles and practical applications, this text shows students how to apply communication techniques to patient care. It contains specific examples from many health care disciplines and is appropriate for all students in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, and other allied health professions. Complete with chapter objectives, real-life examples and sample dialogue, and a glossary defining over 100 words and terms essential to the field of communication.

Research has shown that the therapeutic alliance is a key factor in the success of treatment, and a critical component of establishing this alliance is the communication between therapist and client. The efficacy of treatment depends on the therapist’s ability to collect reliable client information and create the foundation for a good relationship that involves the client in the healing process. Communication in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy provides an overview of the research and theory underlying the importance of therapeutic communication with a specific focus on cognitive behavioral psychotherapy. It brings together an international group of experts from the relevant disciplines of communication, psychotherapy, research and teaching to create an integrated perspective of this crucial area. The book offers a review of the main evidence-based theories, and is highlighted with specific examples and flow charts.Insight for trainers is given by providing learner-centered teaching methods that enhance the acquisition of these communication skills. For researchers, it offers both qualitative and quantitative analyses of the subject as well as a comprehensive review of the main analysis methods adopted in the field.

There is more to a person than a particular symptom or disease: patients are individuals but they are not isolated, they are part of a family, a community, an environment, and all these factors can affect in many different ways how they manage health and illness. This book provides an introduction to population, sociological and psychological influences on health and delivery of healthcare in the UK and will equip today’s medical students with the knowledge required to be properly prepared for clinical practice in accordance with the outcomes of Tomorrow’s Doctors.

For patients and their loved ones, no care decisions are more profound than those made near the end of life. Unfortunately, the experience of dying in the United States is often characterized by fragmented care, inadequate treatment of distressing symptoms, frequent transitions among care settings, and enormous care responsibilities for families. According to this report, the current health care system of rendering more intensive services than are necessary and desired by patients, and the lack of coordination among programs increases risks to patients and creates avoidable burdens on them and their families. Dying in America is a study of the current state of health care for persons of all ages who are nearing the end of life. Death is not a strictly medical event. Ideally, health care for those nearing the end of life harmonizes with social, psychological, and spiritual support. All people with advanced illnesses who may be approaching the end of life are entitled to access to high-quality, compassionate, evidence-based care, consistent with their wishes. Dying in America evaluates strategies to integrate care into a person- and family-centered, team-based framework, and makes recommendations to create a system that coordinates care and supports and respects the choices of patients and their families. The findings and recommendations of this report will address the needs of patients and their families and assist policy makers, clinicians and their educational and credentialing bodies, leaders of health care delivery and financing organizations, researchers, public and private funders, religious and community leaders, advocates of better care, journalists, and the public to provide the best care possible for people nearing the end of life.