Effective Communication in Healthcare

This assignment delves into the crucial role of effective communication in nursing practice. It examines various communication strategies employed by nurses, highlighting the importance of understanding patient perspectives and tailoring communication accordingly. The assignment also explores common barriers to effective communication, such as language differences, cultural variations, and technological limitations. Furthermore, it emphasizes the significance of promoting health literacy among patients to enhance their engagement in healthcare decisions.

Running head: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Effective communication skills
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Effective health communication is a dynamic process where the sources and receivers are
in continuous interchange of information to convey relevant information. The term
‘communication’ is the act of sharing information between different individuals in terms of
concepts, ideas, behaviours and imaginations (Pesina and Solonchak 2014). It is the transfer of
information between the entities conducted in two ways. Important elements in communication
include sender, medium and recipient. The sender is the conveyer who has full understanding of
matter wanting to deliver information. Recipient receives the information that the sender is to
deliver over the platform through which there is conduction of information. Two types of
communication are involved: verbal and non-verbal communication. These two aspects are
important in conveying information between source and receiver accurately incorporating
interpersonal skills like body language, eye contact, active listening, use of silence, questioning
and opening or closing conversations (Ruben 2016). This skill help to communicate with others
individually or in groups required in professional and personal lives. For an effective
communication, both sender and receiver should be actively involved in the information
exchange and so that messages are conveyed accurately between them (Bezner et al. 2017).
Effective communication not only means talking, but also active listening. This means that the
words being communicated should not only be understood, but also the emotions of the speaker
who is communicating. Therefore, to demonstrate the aspects of an effective communication, the
following essay would involve the communication that took place in the video ‘You are what
you eat’ between holistic nutritionist Gillian McKeith and her client, Jane Henwood and
daughter, Holly.
After analysing the video, there are major challenges witnessed in the video. The video
highlights the communication that takes place between 42-year-old Jane and her12 year old

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daughter, Holly and their nutritionist, Gillian. The mother and daughter are obese and suffering
from serious overweight problems. The mother hates cooking and anything that has to be done in
kitchen. She finds convenience in eating ready-to-eat foods and passes this to her family. As a
result, her daughter, Holly is also addicted to junk eating that is not only limited to her home, but
also in her school while with her friends. Jane’s husband and son also consume junk food that is
severely contributing to overweight and obesity in the family. Considering these factors, the
nutritionist, Gillian McKeith came at their house to counsel them about healthy eating through
effective communication and interpersonal skills.
In the video, the food pattern of mother and daughter depicts that there are ill effects of
health and resulting in obesity and related disorders that are coming their way. After watching
the video, I analysed that the mother is shy and not taking an active part in the conversation. She
is not raising any queries and only answering the questions asked by Gillian. The nutritionist is a
capable communication and trying every possible way to make Jane take an active part in the
conversation. She exhibited excellent interpersonal communication skills that helped her to
ensure trust and build rapport with the mother and daughter. There is appropriate execution of
gestures, excellent verbal and non-verbal communication like gestures, empathy and use of
silence to pass points to mother and understanding their health problems suffered by mother and
daughter (Harrington and Valerio 2014).
Gillian seemed to be optimistic and assured mother and daughter in improving their
health and providing them a better life. She made efforts to build a healthy relationship and
rapport with mother and daughter so that Gillian is able to diagnose them and provide effective
ways to deal with health problems that they are suffering from. The video also illustrated that
Gillian explained Jane in the simplest possible manner about the ill effects that unhealthy eating

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(junk foods) can cause to them leading to obesity related problems. She showed empathy in
understanding the underlying factors that made Jane and her family get adapted to this kind of
eating behaviour (de Wit et al. 2018).
After evaluating the video, I found that Gillian demonstrated excellent communication
skills, both verbal and non-verbal in understanding the health problems that her clients are
suffering. Jane and Holly are fat, unhealthy and highly inactive. They consume a high amount of
carbonated drinks that is the main cause of the headache that Holly is seen complaining in the
video. These drinks contain high amount of diuretic caffeine that resulted in dehydration that the
daughter is facing (Popkin, Bray and Hu 2014). There is also vitamin deficiency that Holly is
suffering from as witnessed through cracks around her mouth. The high consumption of ‘ready
to eat’, packaged foods is the main reason of obesity and associated problems that the family is
experiencing as deduced from the video.
Gillian exhibited effective communication with her clients in making them understand
the ill health factors contributing to their obesity and associated health problems. After seeing
their daily food intake and diet, Gillian recommended them to have homemade meals with daily
intake of fresh green vegetables and fruits convincing them to lead an active life with moderate
exercises adhering to active lifestyle.
Health literacy is important as it evaluates the degree to which people have the capacity
to receive, process and in understanding the basic health information so that one can make
effective health decisions (Veenker and Paans 2016). This aspect also includes the healthcare
services available for the people. In the given video, Jane and her daughter are highly engaged in
unhealthy behaviour demonstrating poor health literacy contributed to obesity and associated

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health problems. Gillian explicitly empowered them and enhanced their health knowledge so that
Gillian and her daughter lead a healthy life (Velardo 2015). There was successful communication
between them that helped them realize the importance of dietary modifications required for them.
The effective and engaging conversation initiated by Gillian convinced Jane to be engaged in
healthy cooking and at the same time, realizing the importance of healthy eating and living.
Communication skills: Gillian as a healthcare professional exhibited several important
skills in her communication with Jane and her daughter in the scenario. The concern of Gillian
was regarding the well-being of Jane and her family. Holly who is 12 years of age, was already
obese, and was frequent headaches. Gillian was almost instantaneous in identifying the various
health risks due to their choice of food, and how that adds up to their obesity. Jane, who had
confessed to hate cooking, and hence allows her family to eat ready to eat food, and failed to
include any vegetables in their diet. Gillian pointed out the adverse effects of the poor choice of
food, in a rather straightforward way, to ensure the maximum impression regarding the health
effects they pose. Adler, Rodman and Cropley (1991) mentioned. that mass media allows several
people in a given location to receive the same message simultaneously
Korkouta and Papathanasiou (2014) pointed out that good communication skills are
essential to enable individualised care for patient. Berry (2006) also supported such a view, and
also added that basic communication skills shuld include the ability to ask questions, explain a
given information, attention and active listening, reflection and reinforcement as well as the
ability to initiate and end conversations. Different communication skills, both verbal as well as
non-verbal, were utilized in order to ensure proper communication. Her verbal approach was the
utilization of a straightforward way to pointing out to Jane about the poor food choice. She did
not beat around the bush, and cut straight to the chase, in pointing out how the fast food and

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fizzy drinks was affecting their health, like the headache problem faced by Holly, which could be
attributed to the overconsumption of fizzy drinks high in caffeine content. Her choice of words
often seemed to be very harsh, probably in order for Jane to realize the grave nature of the
problem, and push her to take corrective measures before it was too late. Such an approach was
effective in making Jane realise the problem, and take active steps to fix them. They gave serious
effort to make changes in the diet, as recommended by Gillian, even though they were struggling
to follow the diet initially. Gillian continued to provide support and feedback to Jane and her
family adapt to the new diet, suggesting different ways how they can ease into the change. This
can be related to the multi way process of communication, proposed by Corcoran (2007). Adler,
Rodman and Cropley (1991) and Adler and Rodman (2012) also pointed out the mass media has
an effect on the social and political environment in which they operate, and expresses the culture
and history of a place.
Body language is an effective form of non-verbal communication that can express
thoughts (First Steps 2018). Gillian also used strong non-verbal cues, like body language and
voice tone to show disapproval and disappointment towards the selection of food found in
initial visits. Moore, Hickson and Stacks (2010) emphasized the importance of non verbal
communication as an effective strategy to maintain meaningful communication . She would also
frown frequently, expressing the disapproval, and use a high-pitched tone to convey the
seriousness of the situation. Her posture also exhibited a feeling of annoyance. Gillian also kept
a strong eye contact while sharing her thoughts, concerns or feedback with Jane or Holly, which
was an important factor in effective communication. It must also be noted, that even though
Gillian was direct and even little rude in her approach, she showed continued empathy towards
the health concerns, especially for Holly, She was able to understand the health problems faced

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by both, and her suggestions or recommendations were made keeping in mind their likes and
dislikes. Gillian was prompt to recognise the problem faced by Jane and her daughter, while
adapting to the new diet, since it was new to them. She actively tried to ease them into the new
diet, advising little changes that can make the food more palatable for them. There were also
effective uses of pauses and silences throughout their conversation. The silences were mainly
aimed to allow the points made by Gillian to sink in. She would frequently pause to allow Jane
and Holly to contemplate on their own decisions, and how that might be affecting their health.
Gillian also ensured that the conversation was to the point, and as precise as possible, whilst
giving Jane and Holly enough information to make their own choices. However, Thonmpson
(2011) also warned that poor communication can have negative consequesnces, while good
communication can improve equality and well being among patients. This highlights the
necessity of maintaining a good communication.
Abraham and Kools (2011) states that information sheets and written reports can be used to
influence health related behaviour of people, however such attempt needs to identify how people
read and process information, and how to design messages that are persuasive, and are easy to
comprehend. Utilization of written reposts was hence a significant factor in the education of the
client, influencing the change in their health related behaviour.
At the end of 8 weeks of intervention, Jane and Holly were finally able to change their diet to a
healthy one, and were advocating healthy diet among their peers. This showed that Gillian was
able to successfully educate and empower Jane and Holly about healthy lifestyle choices.
Barriers to communication: Button and Roserra (1990) points out that a diverse type of barriers
can impede effective communication. Norouzinia et al. (2015) also added that some of these

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barriers can be removed by increasing awareness and creating a desirable environment that
facilitate healthy choices. The major challenges that could be identified was a lack of education
regarding the adverse effects of unhealthy, ready to eat meals, and fizzy drinks, as well the fact
that Jane’s hatred to cook. Both of these factors actively contributed to the increased
consumption of fast food by her family. This was a significant barrier to be overcome by Gillian,
in order to impress them how their poor food choices in contributing to their obesity, and health
issues, and can potentially cause even more health problems in the future. No other major
barriers to communication could be identified, since Jane and her family were able to understand
what Gillian was trying to say, and the health concerns she pointed out. Such understanding was
reflected in the active efforts to make necessary changes in their diet as advised by Gillian. In
addition, barriers towards effective communication were eliminated by the active efforts of
Gillian. She avoided using complicated jargons that can be confusing, instead using simpler
terms and contexts to explain her points. She was very attentive to what Jane and her family had
to say, showing active listening skills. Gillian also had a neutral approach towards the lifestyle
choices of Jane and her family, avoiding any stigmatizing, disparaging or insulting comments
that could have hurt their sentiments, or complicate the communication. Similarly, she was able
to identify stress experienced by the family as they were trying to make healthier lifestyle and
diet choices, assisting and supporting them in the process of transition. MacDOnald, Sohn
and Ellis (2010) added that social media can be another significant challenge for young
healthcare professionals, as it can be a source of distraction and breach of privacy. However,
students today are surrounded, more than ever with technology, with the newcomers or ‘naives’
trying to learn the new system, and the old timers ‘immigrants’ trying to adopt to the change.

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This points to the importance of integrating information technology and media in healthcare
communication (Corcoran 2013; Lewis and Lewis 2014; Naidoo and Wills 2016; Scriven 2010).
Hence, Gillian was able to effectively circumvent all barriers to establish effective
communication with Jane and her family and educating them on healthy lifestyle and diet
choices.
Conclusion: With an overview of the above scenario, it can be concluded how effective
communication style can be an important factor in healthcare system, as it allows understanding
of the health concerns, and self-realization. As Laffrey, Fong and Loustau (1985) points out the
need for self actualization and health conception in order to make appropriate choices concerning
one’s own health. This is also supported by Brown and Ryan (2015), who suggests that
motivation is vital for making behavioural changes, and that the type and extent of the
motivation can decide the success from the change. Such idea is contained in the ‘Self
Determination Theory’ (Deci and Ryan 2011; Gagne and Deci 2005). Gillian’s approach was to
first point out the poor lifestyle and diet choices, and how that was affecting the health of the
family, and then provides advice, support and motivation to help them make the correct choices
(like changing diet and lifestyle). She was able to successfully help the family, to overcome their
challenges, and improve their own health condition.

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