Strategies of Communications

Communication is a fundamental tool that makes organizations to thrive. Ranging from multibillion profit-making businesses to those in the lower ranks, verbal exchange has always been the steering wheel to the success witnessed. A enterprise entity with poor profits and lack of coordination no doubt suffers conversation problems. Most of the professionals do not hold a check on their interpersonal communication skills, a situation that leads to errors that can be avoided if people would be attentive at some stage in discussions. The paper addresses some of the mistakes people make at some stage in communication and what they can lead to. A YouTube video, ‘Missed opportunities for Inter-professional practice,' is the center of analysis in the paper. The paper will discuss the interpersonal skills displayed in the video and the impact that they have on clients. Ideally, the paper seeks to address what always happens when professionals, especially in the healthcare sector, do not take keen note of the information being relayed to them especially if it directly affects the patient.

Communication Strategies

Introduction

The hospital staff settled to discuss the condition of one of their patients, Mr. Porter. The patient is reported to have had a surgery a while ago. Later, he developed a heart condition that has an impact on his healing process and demands extra care so that he can be back on his feet. According to the discussion, the patient should be discharged by the end of the week, and the panel is trying to discuss his condition and know whether he is fit for the discharge or not. As the meeting progresses, it is noted that the patients have been offering care to him alongside the nurses. One of the greatest challenges in the discussion is that most of the people in the panel do not take keen note on what each speaker addresses, a situation that could worsen the condition of the patient under discussion. It is critical to dig deep into some of the communication mistakes that are committed and identify their impacts.

The initial step that is critical when analyzing the video is knowing the importance of interpersonal communication skills. These skills entail listening and proper analysis of the information relayed by each during the discussion of a patient. As stated, the patients may be at risk if the information about his assessment is not properly scrutinized before his release. A professional, especially in the medical field, is expected to have proper interpersonal skills to communicate with the clients and families effectively (Riley, 2015). The choice of words used when talking to a client has to be thought through to prevent cases of hurting the client and the family about the sick individuals. If anything, the professional is expected to use an encouraging tone.

Besides, the interpersonal skills are equally vital because the professional takes his or her time to listen to the concerns of the family and the client and know the best way of addressing it (Riley, 2015. Communication is often two way, the professionals equally deserve to listen to what they have to be told by the family and the patient. If a professional cannot communicate effectively, the families may end up misunderstanding the information relayed to them, and in such a confused state, they may end up giving the wrong care, which may lead to further complications to the life of the patients. One issue remains that poor interpersonal skills makes amounts to poor listening skills and giving wrong information. Such a situation makes leads to poor care administered to the patients by the family members once they have been discharged or when they are still within the healthcare facility.

A deep analysis of the video reveals a team which is less coordinated and one that does not pay attention to the information that each of the individuals has to say about the critical condition of the patient who is to be introduced. As the meeting begins, the chairperson introduces one of the nurses in the panel, Christine (Val Palumbo, 2017). During the introduction stage, one is in a position to see the lack of coordination because she is putting on an earring during the meeting. She not only distracts herself and cannot interpret the information from the chairperson but also interrupts the entire team during the meeting.

As the meeting continues, some distractions are seen especially from those who are not speaking at the moment. Landon, for example, is spotted playing with a stethoscope, and he has placed the stethoscope into his ears. He cannot in any way grasp the matters being addressed by his colleagues. The main doctor, Myer, is ever on the phone and when asked a question, has to look at the phone and even comments that her phone has been difficult the past few days (Val Palumbo, 2017). The comment is way out of the discussion and does not in any way add value to the information tabled for discussion in the meeting.

Julie is another individual who is less attentive during the discussion. When she is asked a question, she does not reply immediately because she is lost in thoughts and when she takes up the initiative to answer, Julie gives an opinion different from what she is asked by the chairperson in the discussion.

Interpersonal communication depends on a number of factors. One of the issues that are vital is the observation of the non-verbal cues (Mullan & Kothe, 2010). A few of the people in the discussion have displayed it. When Troy is asked the first question by the speaker, she answers it perfectly and maintains meaningful eye contact although she is later seen to be picking her nails as the discussion progresses. The information given by Landan, on the other hand, is difficult to interpret because he does not observe some of the essential non-verbal cues such as maintaining a meaningful eye contact with the audience. He has his eyes glued to the material he has written and does not care if the other individuals are attentive to what he is saying or not.

With all the activities taking place in the video, it would be wrong to state that the outcome of the discussion will benefit the patient. Nobody, except the chairperson, listens to what the other individuals have to say. They are so preoccupied with other information. It is as if the communication is between two individuals (Val Palumbo, 2017). Therefore, none of the professionals knows the adjustments that should be made according to the information that has been relayed to them each of the speakers on the panel. People have to be keen during any conversation to understand what is being said and react to it effectively. The situation is different because the individuals are on other activities that have taken their attention and it is difficult for them to interpret the information concerning Mr. Porter's condition.

The inter-professional team presented in the video is not as effective as it ought to have been. The team members are not in any way working together effectively (Politi & Street, 2011). Just from the beginning of the video, one can notice the amount of boredom. A discussion of an effective team is expected to be as lively as possible. When an individual gives an opinion on an issue, there should be questions that dig deep in the matter presented by one of the speakers. The case is different because it is more of reading as people listen and get on with their destructive activities. A vibrant and collaborative team should be cheerful and do what they do best with a lot of energy (Politi & Street, 2011). The case presented in the video is however different because it depicts a frail team and one that cannot do anything without reading the notes that they have written. It is even sad that they cannot ask questions at the end of the discussion.

One of the biggest barriers to communication evident in the video is the failure to observe the non-verbal cues by some of the speakers (Farahani et al., 2011). As stated, almost all the individuals are glued to the papers that they had written and are not quite original to engage the other members of the panel. The other communication barriers are however as a result of poor listening skills. One of the poor listening skills evident is giving in to distractions. Most of the people within the panel have given in to the distractions, and if asked questions about what each addressed concerning the patient, it would be difficult for them to answer effectively (Farahani et al., 2011). According to these barriers, the client may not have had the opportunity to discuss the matters affecting him with each of the individuals because they no doubt have poor listening skills. As for the professionals, poor listening skills and getting distracted by other things such as phones shows that they cannot discuss issues and the opinion of each person stands as it is. Additionally, the other barrier of communication from the professional point of view is the hesitant move by the speaker to tell the individuals how important the issue is and tell them that they should not use their phones. The chairperson does not take full charge of her team. On the point of view of the professional organization, the meeting room is not arranged in such a manner that encourages proper communication. The chair cannot easily monitor what her team is doing thus making the communication difficult.

To improve the outcome of the patients and guarantee his safety when he is discharged, a meeting should be organized and rules set to make sure that every individual is in a position to understand the condition of the patient (Keyton 2011). To an extent, it should be a discussion rather than a summary of what has been going on since the client was admitted to the hospital. Additionally, the chairperson of the meeting should be one who is in a position to control what each member does and prevent the cases of disruptions, especially by phone. As it is in the video, most people are bored because they do not think; they barely read the report concerning the patient, an issue that brings to boredom.

I have a feeling that even after the meeting, the patients are at risk. Each of the people who spoke stated that ‘someone' has to address some of the problems that the patient has. Landon, for example, stated that the problem of gardening ought to be addressed (Kim & Feamster, 2013). The panel does not identify the individuals who are to address these people. In such a case, the organization's chairperson is expected to assign different team members with the task of addressing the situation of Mr. Porter to ensure that he is released in the right condition and that the family is given the right information to deal with him when he is recovering at home. The shortcomings in the video will thus be addressed effectively, and patient released when he can easily be taken care of.

References

Colquitt, J., Lepine, J. A., Wesson, M. J., & Gellatly, I. R. (2011). Organizational behavior: Improving performance and commitment in the workplace. McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Farahani, M. A., Sahragard, R., Carroll, J. K., & Mohammadi, E. (2011). Communication barriers to patient education in cardiac inpatient care: A qualitative study of multiple perspectives. International journal of nursing practice, 17(3), 322-328.

Keyton, J. (2011). Communication and organizational culture: A key to understanding work experiences. Sage.

Kim, H., & Feamster, N. (2013). Improving network management with software-defined networking. IEEE Communications Magazine, 51(2), 114-119.

Mullan, B. A., & Kothe, E. J. (2010). Evaluating a nursing communication skills training course: The relationships between self-rated ability, satisfaction, and actual performance. Nurse education in practice, 10(6), 374-378.

Politi, M. C., & Street, R. L. (2011). The importance of communication in collaborative decision making: facilitating shared mind and the management of uncertainty. Journal of evaluation in clinical practice, 17(4), 579-584.

Riley, J. B. (2015). Communication in nursing. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Val Palumbo, M. (2017). Missed Opportunities for Interprofessional Practice. YouTube. Retrieved 12 December 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey557BaRe14&feature=youtu.be