Don't Just Take A Walk.

I was among thirty students to enroll in the first leadership class offered at the high school I attended. Our major projects was to clean and decorate a new classroom that would become the permanent leadership oasis for years to come. One specific task given to us was to find a quote to write on the wall. We selected, “He who is leading but has no one following, is only taking a walk.” It is a quote that always rings in my head every time I hear the word, leadership. As we begin to look at leadership communication, I think this quote is still very relevant.

It was said in class on Tuesday that doctors are the captain-of-the-ship. But doctors cannot give patients total care. A doctor must have the following of nurses and support staff in order to offer proper treatment. In one article I read this week, it discussed doctors need to practice the trend of “team care”. It is a natural tendency for doctors to make decisions and treat patients independent of other physicians. In trauma situations though, multiple doctors are sometimes required to save a patient’s life. When doctors worked together in teams, they were often seen fumbling over each other. This can cause the patient discomfort and substandard care. Medical simulations were needed to help the doctors and nurses learn to work together as a team and communicate effectively. I found this interesting and it brought me back to the quote I learned years ago. Doctors must learn to lead with their team following. It is the very ones they are trying to help that will suffer if doctors decide to just take a walk.

Communication Considered Crucial

As I was reading an article titled, "Communication as a Priority for Success", by Longwood Publishing, I found it funny that we talked about everything it included in our class discussion two classes ago. This article puts the communication model into a real life situation. As I was reading, I noticed it stated that "communication is the key to success for organizations and is a vital component." Leadership and success requires communication. Everything from culture differences, to environment, to keeping up with communication by keeping the flow of it, was included in the observation of St. Michale's Hospital in downtown Toronto. When all is said and done, communication is really the key to keep any organization running.

The most basic quality of leadership is having good communication skills. I believe everyone can be a leader no matter what position they hold. An article by Media Health Leaders describes how a woman noticed something in the hospital she was staying in that was significantly different than the hospital she worked at. She noticed there was no noise because of the wireless badges the employees used to communicate with instead of using the PDA. She brought this back into her own hospital and the hospital benefitted it. In my opinion, she was a leader because a leader is not afraid to speak up or make a change, but also has to make that change in an orderly way. Anyone that works for the hospital can make small changes. Whether it is picking up another night for a coworker, taking the extra step to check out a patient's room while your coworker is busy running around trying to get everything done, talking to your patient a few extra minutes before making your rounds to the next rooms. All of these actions are actions that set you apart and can create a leadership quality in you.

Hospitals in particular need leaders that communicate almost as an instinct. This way, others can be encouraged to do the same. As the results for St. Michael's Hospital turned out bettering the hospital, wouldn't using communication help benefit any organization and relationships within? I believe it can.

Best is not Better when communication is absent

Communication is at the core of every relationship. The success or failure of any relationship depends greatly on how well both parties are able to communicate. Doctors for example need to develop and maintain great relationship with their patients, and this can only be done through great communication.
A physician may have outstanding experience, and great expertise, yet fails to meet his or her clients needs, if he does not freely communicate with them and allow them to do the same. As I mentioned last class period, at my previous job where I used to work as a Service Coordinator for children with developmental delay, the parents that I worked with primary concern was not to have the best therapist to provide care for their children, but rather to have therapists to whom they could freely communicate. The logic behind this is because when a parent feels comfortable communicating with a therapist, he or she will work as an equal partner to assist the child in meeting his goals.
The principle is not any different for doctors and patients relationship. Doctors need to make their patients feel at ease to communicate with them. They need to develop a good rapport with their patient, because if they do not, they may cause patients to put them on a pedestal; which will prevent free communication to take place.
If doctors learn to communicate effectively with their patients, the result will be outstanding, because patients will find a common ground with their doctors, and consequently, greater results will occur.

Potential health issues as a result of Haiti's Earthquake

On Tuesday January 12, a 7.o magnitude earthquake hit Haiti, causing thousands of deaths and a high level of properties’ damage. From that day forward, a great emphasis has been placed on feeding and treating the people who have been affected by the quake. To make this a reality, people from all over the world have combined their effort together to help in their own capacity. However, people need to anticipate the aftermath consequences that will follow.
According to medical experts, in the weeks, and months ahead, communicable diseases and a tone of health issues will become an issue, such as heart disease, diabetes and so on. Experts also anticipate emotional and mental illnesses among the population in the years to come. When I first read that, it did not make much sense to me, then I realized that people may still be in the denial phase, or probably are too preoccupied wondering about how they will find something to appease their hunger; so they fail to assess the magnitude of the devastation that has occurred. However, when everything will resume to normal, the assessment will begin to emerge. The ones who have been in denial will quickly shift to the acceptance of their reality, which I believe will be the cause to mental disturbance and trauma.
All of the issues previously mentioned can be minimized if the government of Haiti along with the international communities, put in place a long term plan to meet the health issues of the population. And in my opinion, they should take care of the basics first, such as providing access to clean drinking water, sanitation, and proper medical treatment.

Communication Within Before Communicating Out

Besides for the simple sore throat and runny nose visits to a healthcare provider, most indivudals are baffled by their experience there. Good, clear communication would solve this issue. But is it any wonder that doctor-patient communication so often fails when communication within the organization is such a mess?

Channels of communication aren't nonexistence in a healthcare setting, but quite often their only between those working directly together on a particular task. Throughout the rest of the system its murky at best. Administration knows their goals, but does the organization? Each worker on a particular case knows what thoughts are in their own head, but do the other doctors, nurses, and therapists on the case know?

Before an organization can even think of providing a service to a community, they all have to be clear on what the service is, how to go about it, and what the overall goal of that service should be. "Making people healthier and saving lives" is all well and good, but this can not be the beginning and end of what a healthcare system thinks or does. Communication, starting with a CEO and ending with a Janitor, can make every worker and volunteer aware of HOW and WHY the organization plans on making individuals healthier and saving lives.

This work of communication should not be left up to one group of administration or to each department its own. It is the responsibility of each member of the organization to communicate with every other member, just as much as it is a doctor and patient to communicate with each other.

where does doctor-patient communication take place? (Cassie)

Whenever we think of doctor-patient communication, the interaction in the healthcare units comes to our mind; for example, in hospital wards and in the operation rooms. The fact is, communication between doctors and patients are taking place even when they are not being together.

Think about this: When you go back home from the hospital after the consultation with your doctor, and you talk to your parents or friends about what you have just experienced, is this a kind of comunication with your doctor?

Of course this is not direct communication, but still it can be considered as indirect communication. You are communicating with your doctor without him noticing this.

Isn't this make the doctor-patient communication more challenging? You cannot control what message is flowing out there, and you honestly have no idea how to control it.

Getting a "One-Up" on Medical Lingo

Our last class focused on the communication model and its components. As I have been reading, the two things that employers look for most when interviewing is if the potential person has strong communication and listening skills. I see communication as getting a message out to another form of public in an effective way. I was given two articles to read our first day of class and noticed that communication is important no matter where you are or what you are doing. Communication is what patient's are requesting most of their doctors, but find it hard to recieve information that is understandable. Doctors, on the other hand, are finding it hard to change their "language" in order to help make patients understand what they are talking about. For example, while briefly looking through articles online, I came across an article about women and their mammogram needs on the U.S. News and World Report website. The article continued to explain that most women who are actually in need of a mammogram do not get one because they simply did not know they needed one. Doctors feel as if they are doing all they can to tell women they need to get tested, and do not understand why women are not getting them.

This reminds me of times when even people I know feel a need to have to take a family member with them when going to the hospital to be almost like an interpretor in order to understand the "medical lingo." This, in my opinion, is sad because clarity is extremely important in these types of situations. Now that the tables have turned and patients are the ones questioning doctors about their credibility and knowledge of their particular situation/illness, doctors have to be more aware of interactive and dialogic communication with a patient instead of the patient being merely an active listener. This is happening in many areas dealing with health care. Even getting messages out to the public from a specific hospital, such as the mammorgram testing need, can promote the hospital's want to reach out to the community. Either way, if they do not reach out, patients can now learn all they need to know online, and will continue to look for the hospital that has the best communication, now that they have a "one-up" with the medical language.

When do doctors start communicating?

In our first class I explained a situation that happened to a friend of mine at Lakeland Hospital in St. Joseph. Ultimately, the situation resulted in his death.

During one of our class discussions we talked about communication between doctors and patients. We also talked about how a lot of patients are now starting to take responsibility for their care and educating themselves on what they are feeling and how to communicate it effectively to their doctor before they even get to their appointment. The fact that patients are starting to do this is a really good thing because it truly does enable them to communicate effectively with their doctor. But my question is this; if we has patients are taking the time to better educate ourselves in order to communicate better with our doctor, then why aren't our doctors doing the same?

In the situation with my friend a doctor had actually sent him, not recommended but sent him, to the hospital for treatment because he was presenting with a severe case of diabetes and was obviously starting to go into a diabetic shock. At the hospital, the doctor who treated him didn't listen at all to my friend, or the friend who had driven him, didn't run any tests, and told my friend to go home and drink fluids because he was just dehydrated. So my friend, not being able to convince the doctor of anything else, went home where he went into a diabetic coma, had a heart attack, and died. He died because a doctor refused to listen and properly communicate with him. So while it's great that patients are taking responsibility in the communication department, why do some doctors get away with not having to do the same? Especially when the lack of communication results in a death. So again I ask, when do doctors start communicating?

Two Coveted Letters -- M.D.

After our first class discussion, I keep coming back to the question of whether or not patients are willing to take on the “consequences” of their decisions that are based on their own medical research. Solely based upon my thoughts, I believe that people think differently of doctors now than they did years ago. I feel that doctors were much more respected in years past. The two letters, MD, that followed their names symbolized to patients that their doctor had gone through extensive schooling to be able to help them with medical problems. These two letters also symbolized something that not all people felt they could accomplish for themselves. In a sense, it was a coveted occupation that only few had the privilege to achieve.

Now, particularly in the United States, I feel patients have begun to feel more empowered. That the letters “MD” do not carry the weight of respect that they once did. Why? I can remember as a child hearing over and over again, you can be anything you want to be. I think we have really embraced this thought, now more than ever. The internet has become a tool for empowerment. Now, information is easily obtained -- figuratively and actually at our fingertips -- no longer only accessible to those privileged to go to medical school. We, essentially, can become our own doctors.

So my question now is, if or better yet when we improve doctor/ patient communication, will this bring back a patients respect for doctors? Or will we, as patients, still want to gain information for ourselves?

Doctor and Patient Communication

A doctor is a key healthcare resource to all their patients, current or potential. Because of this, it is very important that the patient feel they can ask anything of that physician. The expectation is that in turn the doctor will respond accurately, timely, and with personableness to every inquiry of the patient. This is not always the case. Many patients feel it is the doctor who they can not easily communicate with.

The situation of healthcare is becoming like many other areas of life; if you have someone there to support you and defend you, your situation will improve. Patients who have an advocate, or someone other than themselves to communicate with the doctor, they receive better and more accurate care. Unfortunately, many patients don't have a relative or friend to be their advocate. This need presents an entreprenuering opportunity. Where there is demand someone will be more than willing to offer supply, but at a price.

This raises the question that if doctors were better screened on a communication level would the need for advocacy decrease? The actual care of the patient may or may not change. But with the communication line opened up patients will feel more taken care of, the doctor will miss less, and complaints of the service being rendered will decrease. So which is less costly to the health care system in the long run? Making communication testing a requirement for licensure or creating advocacy agencies to force communication between doctor and patient?

Welcome!

Welcome to the class blog for PREL 465, Advanced Topics In PR: Healthcare Communication, spring semester 2010, Andrews University.