12.1 Communication Is Key
Katie Baker
Whether communicating with other providers, supervisors, staff, or patients and their families, professional communication is crucial for several reasons. Clear communication helps ensure that patients receive the best possible treatment outcomes. Communication can take various forms, including written messages (emails, letters, text messages, presentation slides), verbal messages (phone calls, video conferences), and in-person interactions (meetings, presentations, patient visits).
Clarity is essential to ensure that recipients understand your message and can perform the requested actions. Timeliness is equally important, as patients must receive timely information about their care, and providers must be able to follow up quickly to optimize patient outcomes.
Concise communication means delivering your message without unnecessary information. For example, when presenting in a large meeting, focus only on relevant content. Avoid including slides that do not directly support your message.
The way you present your message also reflects your professionalism. Using the appropriate tone, spelling, grammar, and punctuation ensures that your communication is perceived professionally.
Selecting the right recipient is another critical aspect of communication. For effective care, you must know who to communicate with about a patient’s condition to provide relevant information. Similarly, your organization may have a specific chain of command for addressing concerns, such as contacting your manager first, then the department director, and finally Human Resources. It is expected that you follow this chain to ensure effective communication.
Communication May Depend on Audience
As a healthcare professional, you will communicate with people in different roles. You may interact with supervisors and other leaders within your organization. You may also be responsible for training new employees, which will require strong communication and listening skills. Additionally, you will communicate with providers to whom you refer patients, as well as with patients and their families directly.
While it is common to use a more casual tone with coworkers, it is essential to communicate with employees in a professional and compassionate manner. Workplace communication norms may vary between colleagues and across different levels within the organization, so it is crucial to understand the expectations of your specific workplace. Many workplaces today have more casual and friendly relationships between supervisors and staff, which can be challenging when generational differences are present. It is always best to err on the side of being more formal and to follow the lead of your supervisor in terms of communication style. For example, some providers may prefer to be addressed by their title at all times, such as “Dr. Baker,” or only in specific instances, as in “You can call me Katie, but please refer to me as Dr. Baker in front of patients.”
Therapeutic communications with patients should always be professional, compassionate, clear, and concise. All communications with patients should leave a record. For example, any emails or letters sent to patients should be retained by the provider’s organization, and any verbal or phone conversations should be documented in the patient’s chart in the appropriate section. Documenting communication in the patient chart helps address any potential miscommunications or misinterpretations by the recipients.
It is not appropriate to text patients unless using a HIPAA-compliant texting service for reminders and notifications. Test results and diagnoses should never be sent via text message. Patients should be reminded that texting is not an appropriate way to contact their provider about concerns. Aside from scheduled telehealth visits, diagnosis and treatment should never be conducted via text or email, given the confidential nature of healthcare communication. Additionally, encryption must be in place to protect against accidental HIPAA violations, such as the theft or loss of a communicating device like a laptop or cell phone.
Introduction to Written Communication
Communication can be divided into seven components, outlined below. For each component, we will define its importance and provide examples of how it applies to professional written communication.
Context
Context refers to the surrounding environment or underlying meaning behind a communication. It can involve the purpose of your phone call or email, as well as the situation or relationship between you and the recipient. Context also encompasses cultural or organizational communication norms, which help set the tone for your message. For example, the context of a letter will influence the tone, which may range from formal to casual depending on your relationship with the recipient and the nature of the message.
Sender
As the sender, you are responsible for conveying your ideas, whether in writing, verbally, or in person. Your tone and content will be influenced by your status within an organization and the nature of your relationship with the recipient. For example, your tone and style will differ when communicating with your employer, trainees, or patients.
Ideas
The content of the communication plays a significant role in how the message is conveyed. The main idea of your message should be clearly communicated, with supporting details and a conclusion that reinforces the central point. In a presentation, the slides should be arranged logically to make the main idea clear, with supporting details positioned accordingly. It can be helpful to have a colleague review your presentation to identify any areas that may cause confusion.
Encoding
Encoding refers to how the message’s ideas are conveyed. This could involve text, punctuation, images, or even audio or video clips. While punctuation and grammar can convey emotion (such as multiple exclamation points to show excitement), professional communication should limit punctuation to a single mark at the end of a sentence. Emoticons, emojis, and text abbreviations should be avoided in professional communications.
Medium
The medium refers to the method of communication, such as a call, email, text message, or verbal communication. The choice of medium reflects the formality or importance of the message, as well as the relationship between the sender and receiver. For example, it may be appropriate to send a quick text to an X-ray technician about a patient, but texting a CEO or informing a patient about a serious diagnosis via text would be inappropriate.
Receiver/Decoder
The receiver, or decoder, is the person receiving the message. In a professional setting, this could be a colleague, superior, subordinate, or patient. Both the sender and the receiver bring their own moods, opinions, and interpretations to the message, which can sometimes lead to miscommunications. It is important that your written communication is clear to avoid misunderstandings. If a misunderstanding does occur, it is best to follow up with a phone call or in-person discussion, as written communication does not always convey tone effectively.
Feedback
Feedback is the recipient’s response to the message. It is important to provide a response to professional communications directly. While organization-wide communications (such as announcements) may not require responses, feedback is essential for clarifying misunderstandings. For example, if you send a referral for an MRI of the right knee but receive a response stating that the patient was contacted for an MRI of the left knee, you can correct the error before the imaging appointment takes place.
Communication between the provider and patient that seeks to establish and build trust and sense of safety.
Oral communication through spoken words and sounds that convey meaning.