Communication has a crucial role in health professionals’ job. Communication allows the professional to articulate their thoughts into sentences which will be used to inform the patients about their condition and possible treatments options. Burnad. (1992). created a list of communications skills that include individual communication, communication with clients, communication with colleagues and communicating through teaching and learning. These skills are vital for health professionals such as nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and social work need to be able to communicate effectively to help patients effectively. These skills allow for a person-centered goals and practice, where the patient is the focus.
Certain skills that are crucial for effective listening are non-verbal communication skills such as non-verbal communication consisting of body language, facial expression, eye contact, position and finally active listening. These non-verbal communication skills such as body language, facial expression, eye contact, and active listening, communicates to the patient that the health professional is listening and is focused on helping them. Another effective form of communication is through verbal interactions with the patient, patients can pick up on tones/pitch, so having a calm tone will give reassurance to the patient. As Burnad. (1992). mentioned communication between colleagues must be effective and informative as the patient could seek further treatment from a specialist, so health professionals must develop effective forms of communication between other professionals. These communication skills allow for a better person-centered care where the patient is the main focus.
Harry Cao 