Effective communication in healthcare is crucial on many levels. In this article, we will focus on a particular one – the communication between healthcare professionals and patients. How to facilitate it to increase high patient satisfaction and avoid potential conflicts? We will answer this question here, so read on.
Why is Effective Communication with Patients Important?
The way the patient feels affects their reactions. Fear may lead to aggression, trust may alleviate fear, or happiness may increase calmness and satisfaction. If you wish to decrease the number of instances of workplace violence in healthcare, making your patients feel good should be your main priority, and this may be achieved through effective communication.
How to Communicate with Patients Effectively?
Since we’re now understanding why effective communication with patients is important, we may proceed with presenting the best practices for physicians and whole facilities. By implementing them, you are bound to see the results in a short time. So, how to communicate with patients effectively?
- Be attentive – Simple as it may seem, being attentive is a straight road to trust and worthwhile discussions. All you need to do is truly focus on what your patients say, and the communication will improve significantly.
- Ask open questions – While a simple yes/no question is sometimes necessary and better, especially when you need a particular piece of information, if you are in a situation where you want to get to the core of the problem, open questions are a better option. They will invite your patients to share their story, which may provide you with additional information which you wouldn’t get otherwise.
- Pay attention to body language – Our bodies often speak volumes about our feelings and attitude, so the ability to control and read them is crucial. Pay attention to what your patients signalize with their body language, and ensure that you show empathy or at least control your gestures. Through this, you will be able to spot any issues faster than through a conversation and resolve them quickly.
- Think who you are talking to – Most patients are not healthcare professionals, they won’t understand the jargon or specialized terms. If you desire to build trust, you must be understood, therefore you should use simple, plain language that the patients will comprehend.
- Personalize the advice – In business, personalization has become a key element in marketing and sales. It happened so for a reason, so make a use of this tendency. By giving personalized advice, for instance using the words “in your situation”, you build up trust and your image as an expert, while making your patient happier. Nobody wants to be treated as one of the many, and using certain language, combined with advice adjusted to the situation, is a way to avoid that.
The Takeaway
Effective communication with patients will reduce the number of conflicts and increase the trust that the patients put into you. With the tips from this article, you will be able to quickly improve the quality of your communication with the patients. Remember: a happy patient is a person that will return to your clinic.
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