Communication Strategies in Health and Social Care Services

This report examines the crucial role of communication within health and social care organizations. It explores various communication theories such as cognitive, behavioral, and physiological theories, and their practical application in healthcare settings. The report highlights the importance of effective communication skills, including active listening, understanding cultural differences, and utilizing communication cycles to enhance patient care. It also addresses methods for managing inappropriate interpersonal communication and strategies for supporting users with special communication needs. Furthermore, the report delves into how cultural and value factors influence communication processes, the impact of legislation and codes of practice, and the effectiveness of organizational systems in promoting good communication practices. The use of standard ICT software packages in healthcare, along with the benefits and legal considerations, are also discussed, emphasizing the importance of technology in improving communication and service delivery. The document is available on Desklib, a platform offering a range of study tools for students.

Communicating in Health and
Social Care Organisations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO1..................................................................................................................................................1
1.1 communication theories in the context of health and social health care .......................1
1.2 use of communication skills inn health and social health care .......................................2
1.3 methods of dealing with Inappropriate interpersonal communication between individual
and social care settings .........................................................................................................3
1.4 strategies to support users of healthcare services with special communication needs..4
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................5
2.1 How communication process influenced by cultural and value factors...........................5
2.2 How legislation, codes of practices impact on communication practices in health and
social care...............................................................................................................................6
2.3 Effectiveness of organizational system and policies in promoting good practice in
communication.......................................................................................................................7
2.4 ways of improving communication process in health and social care.............................8
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................9
3.1 Standard ICT software packages to support work in health and social care....................9
3.2 Benefits of using ICT in health and social care for users of services, care organizations
and workers..........................................................................................................................10
3.3 Legal consideration in the use of ICT impact on health and social care........................10
Questions and answer..........................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Communication refers a skill and a process of sharing views, informations and making
contact with others and being understood (Foronda, MacWilliams and McArthur, 2016). It is
important to have effective communication sources at health and social care in order to improve
health of patients.
This present study is going to show effectiveness of using communication skills and
theories at workplace in order to improve relation and solving miscommunication problems. It
will cover the communication skills which are needed to the nurses at the workplace of the
company and also cover the influence of the communication in the culture and the value
factors. This report will explore the use of information and communication technology in the
health and social care organization.
LO1
1.1 communication theories in the context of health and social health care
A healthy and the effective communication is the 2 ways of the process in which one
person listen, and they tries to understand what the other person is providing the information.
Ac good communication include the process of active listening and understating the
information properly. In the Healthcare organization communication plays the important role
between the client and the staff (Banwart., 2020). The company employees should talk
effectively and clearly with the patents, so they can create good relations with them and provide
the better healthcare to their patent. There are some theories of the communication which can
e applied on the health care organization for the better engagement.
Cognitive theory
This theory is related to the human Brain and the intelligence of an individual and this
theory deals with the storing, encoding and processing the information from the other. For
example- To apply this theory staff members have to understand the problematic and listen to
the patents careful. After getting the proper solution they provide the solution of their problem
and create good image among them. This theory I have applied in my previous workplace
where it helps us to understand the behavior of the patents and what they demand from us.
Behavioral theory
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In theories theory individual try to understand the behavior of the person to understand
the useful information. In the context of health and social care it is important for the Nurse and
the factors to understand the behavior of the patents, so they can get what actually the problems
is an according to the information they get from the patent or the client they provide the proper
treatment of the solution to them. AT the workplace of the company if they will apply this they
practically then they will able to understand the demand of the patent through their behavior.
For examples – Behavior of the patents also provide the information that they are getting
proper care or not so Nurses can observe the behavior of the patents at work.
Physiological theory
This theory deals with the stress, emotion and type of behavior of an individual.t is the
duty of the organization to train their employees in order to provide right source of
communication to their customers (Delerue and Sicotte., 2017). These techniques should be
implemented using knowledge and skills. In case of health care , Humanistic theory is applicable
to communicate with client , to know her needs and show her respect in her desires. This theory
of communication with her will help to make her happy and boost her motivation. In practical –
Hospital staff like Nurses have to build good relationship with the patents, so they can feel
good.
1.2 use of communication skills inn health and social health care
To achieve the objectives and the goals of the healthcare institutes , communication
techniques can help to satisfy their customers and provide effective services to them. The health
care and the social workers need the effective communication skills to understand the
requirement of their customers, and they can provide the best possible services to them through
the effective communication skills In the employees. Here are some communication skills
which can be needed in the healthcare employees. For example – listening properly to the
problem of the patent or understanding His problems and providing proper suggestion to them
is also part of effective communication
Understanding the communication cycle – Employees needs to understand the
communication cycle and how it works. The understanding of the communication cycle will be
useful to create flow of communication at the workplace of the company and they can make
good relationship with the customers.
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Understanding of the cultural differences - employee shave to understand that the
customers in the healthcare organization come from the different different culture maybe they
can speak the other language, so they knowledge have skills to understand the non- verbal
communication skills to understand the problems of the customers, and they can provide the
good healthcare service's to their customers
The modern equipment and the communication aids are used to monitor the services
provided by the employees in the healthcare (Hassell and Cotton., 2017). The various type of the
training are provided to the healthcare organization employees to enhance in workplace and to
provide better services to their customers. Each department in health care organization has a
communication book. The staff members are updated about the happenings in the workplace
with the help of such books. There is also a notice board that gives information about the name
of attendant allotted along with the name of patients
Encouraging communication
leaders of the company encourage the employees through the group task in which
employees communicate at the workplace of the Hospital which increase flow of
communication. They are superiors of the company, and they are a responsible tor communicate
with the employee and encourage them to ask question and communicate with the other
employees at workplace of the company
Body language
It is the best way to remove the language barriers, and they can talk with the customers
through the gestures, moving hands and other body movements to communicate with the
customers.
1.3 methods of dealing with Inappropriate interpersonal communication between individual
and social care settings
Difficulties in the communication can make the employees alone and the rejected from
the entire community so it is important for the healthcare organization to overcome from this
issues. Their are various kind of the technologies at the organizations such as trained staff, IT
system and the constant monitoring have provided the huge help to dealing with the
communication problem, at the workplace of the healthcare organization. And the care
providers (Kashian., 2019). This is an duty of the company's health care provider use the
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technologies such as verbal ad the non- verbal with the individual to understand the needs and
to provide them the required assistance. The other staff members of the organization should
also contribute and help in communication with the people with special needs.
Various interpersonal communication skills like verbal and non-verbal are implemented
in order to achieve the objectives. The verbal communication skills include clear understanding
and respectable communication so that it is easy to communicate between the client and the care
provider. The non-verbal communication that includes the communication that is done by the use
of gestures and facial expressions serves as good communication method between the two people
who have language problem.
The effective interpersonal communication skills should be developed among the
employees in the healthcare organization, so they can provide the care services to their patents
and satisfy their needs (Mercer-Mapstone and Kuchel., 2017). They should get the training for
the effective communication to fulfill the demand of the communication skills of the people
with special needs. An effective communication needs analysis of the care workers and the
other people. This will make the employees more confident t talk with the customers, and they
will able to provide the better healthcare services to them and satisfy their needs and their
demand.
Healthcare industry is using the interpersonal and appropriate communication in their
daily activities and they are also getting the training from their superiors how they should
behave with the patents.
1.4 strategies to support users of healthcare services with special communication needs
There are different different strategies to support the healthcare services with the
special communication needs (Pedersen., 2017). Employees of the healthcare organization
can use the effective communication theories to provide the good health services to their patents
and helps to satisfy their needs.
Communication theories - employees can use the communication theories to use the effective
communication and develop the skills in the selves and provide better services to their
customers. They can use the behavioral and other communication theories which will help to
improve their communication skills.
Employees training – employees should set the training for the improvement in their
communication, and they can pro0vide the quality services to the customer, and they can learn
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how they should speak with the customers and get the proper training about the importance of
the communication in the organization. Here they are learning the skills how they can contract
with the patents who speak different language so the gesture is the best way to communicate
technique in this situation so they are getting training like this. They need to confident which to
communicate with the patents so training world be the best.
Group activities – This strategy is most popular and better for the employees to improve their
communications skills. In these practices employees or the staff of the healthcare organization
will work in the group, and they will provide the healthcare services to their customers in group
which can be more effective because they will be available fr the customers whenever they will
need them (Smith., 2019).
Advisory
Advisory can be the best way to support the communication. Employees can take the
advice from their superiors to improve their communication skills and get the proper support
from them.
LO 2
2.1 How communication process influenced by cultural and value factors
Culture and values play an important role as it affects communication to the great extent.
Both these terms have great influence on each others. Health and social care is one of those
industries where different culture of people work and they also have to deal with different
cultures of people or patients. Cultural differences in health and social care cause personality and
behaviour differences which leads miscommunication. Each action of staff members influenced
by culture such as: interest, values, beliefs, ambition etc. Staff faces problems due to different
beliefs, age, ethnicity and social class. Some problems which cultural factors create include:
Language barriers: Health and social car centre have staff of different cultures and due
to different cultures of staff at one place, healthcare providers face problem in communicating
with each others. Different culture and ethnicity of people have different languages and while
communicating they face problems in understanding views of others which lead
miscommunication. This miscommunication affects health care services provided to patient due
to unclear informations and also it can become reason of conflicts among staff (Razmerita,
Kirchner and Nielsen, 2016). For example: When employees deal with service users of different
background and culture then they find problems in interacting with them due to different
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language. For example: is service user is Indian and unable to understand English and employees
is America or Bengali then they find it difficult to make service users understand about
treatments and also finding problems in getting informations from them.
Different perception: Health and social care centre promote diversity and equality at its
workplace and staff members at this centre have abilities to communicate with their clients. But
sometimes dealing with clients and working in a team with different age group and culture of
people can create problems. Different age group, values and culture of people have different
ways of thinking, performing activities and perception. These differences in perception lead
conflicts at workplace and even also become reason of staff turnover. So, it can be said that
culture has some negative effects on communication.
2.2 How legislation, codes of practices impact on communication practices in health and social
care
Legislation, codes of practices and charters also play an important role in the context of
communication. By following relevant codes of practices and legislation, health and social care
centre can make it successful and reduce all problems which its staff members face. On the other
hand, it can also be said that lack of codes of practices and legislation at workplace of health and
social care can increase problems for organization, patients and social care providers as well.
There is some legislation which can influence and increase effectiveness of communication
practices such as:
Equality Act 2010: It is one of the effective legislation which can affect communication process
in an effective manner. As per this legislation, all staff members need to treat each others in a fair
and equal manner. To prevent people against discrimination on the basis of age, gender,
ethnicity, disability and marriage is one of the main aim of this legislation. Implementation of
this legislation can allow healthcare providers to improve their healthcare services and also
improve retention rate (Equality Act 2010: Discrimination and Rights, 2019).
Human Rights Act 1998: As per this act, all employees have rights to protect themselves
against safety at workplace and get all for which they are liable and have rights to get. It
includes: the right to life, the right to respect for family and private life and the right to freedom
of religion. In health and social care centre, by following this legislation, centre can increase
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retention rate and also improve relations. When they respect dignity of people, provide safety at
work then it makes them feel valued (Human Rights Act: 1998, 2013).
Data protection act: Data protection of people and patients is one of the main key part of
maintaining dignity for those using health and social care. With this act or legislation at health
and social care centre, centre can make employees feel valued. By protecting their personal and
sensitive data safe and secure it can increase its image and have effect on communication
effectively.
For example: If health care organization implement data protection and human rights act then all
employees are required to keep data safe of their clients and other colleagues. Employees are
also liable and responsible for treating their colleagues and clients in a fair and equal manner
which can help them out in increasing customers’ retention rate. It also improves communication
and reduce situations of miscommunication and conflicts.
2.3 Effectiveness of organizational system and policies in promoting good practice in
communication
In the context of effectiveness of organizational system in health and social care mainly depend
upon the several factors. It is important for health care providers of centre to recognize ways to
encourage communication. For an effective organizational system in order to promote good
practices it is important for health and social care providers to consider some factors and needs
which include:
 Written as well s oral communication practices include listening speaking and others.
 Focus on body language techniques.
 Making use of electronic communication in an effective manner and other special type of
communicational approaches for health and social care.
It can be said that organizational system plays an important role as it allows all workers to let
them know about works what they have to do and the flow of communication at organization.
With the help of organizational system and policies, they can also reduce errors in their functions
because they have clarity of all those things which they are required to complete (Schultz, Mattor
and Moseley, 2016). With an effective organizational system and policy, all members are
encouraged to use easy languages which can be understood by all, asking open ended questions
whenever required, using technology in an effective manner, access to health care resources etc.
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So, it can be said that by focusing on these effective organizational policies and system,
patients’ safety and health can be improved, can be solved all problems related to
communication like conflicts, miscommunication, poor quality of services errors in processes
etc.
As per the current situation of Covid19 it is important for all employees and service users to
maintain safety at their own. By implementing policies regarding maintaining safety like
compulsory of wearing mask and sanitizing hands and also using safety measurement tools can
help health care organizations in improving health.
Making use of working screen equipment is beneficial for health care services and for remote
workers in order to keep distancing and continuing their functions. Remote workers can perform
their functions like handling telephone calls and fixing appointments and others. With the help of
display or working screen equipment they can display data and keep safety at workplace.
2.4 ways of improving communication process in health and social care
It is analyzed that health and social care centre is facing several problem related to
communication These problems are leading miscommunication, conflicts, poor quality of
services, increasing rate of patients stay at centre. It is important for healthcare provider and
manager of this centre to reduce or eliminate all these problem in order to make people feel
motivated, improving heath and image of the company.
With the help of using some strategies and techniques, all problems can be mitigated in
an effective manner such as: All theories are being divided as per 3 main factors like individually
centred, interaction centred and relationship centred.
Humanistic approach: It is one of the best ways and strategy by which all problems related to
communication can be eliminated and improves relation among all people. As per this strategy,
manager can focus on empathy ad stresses the good in human behaviour. It is the theory which
also protects human rights and also allows them to get equal and fair treatment. This approach
encourages people to do some soul-searching and find what they need the most like the relation,
friendship and others (Hemberg and Sjoblom, 2018). In this, a person needs to focus on their
strengths rather focusing on weakness which motivate and encourage them to perform activities
and communicate with each others in an effective manner.
Team meeting: By holding team meeting and calling up all workers and members in team
employers can improve communication process. In weekly team meeting they can ask all
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questions and queries which employees and workers have and by asking suggestions they can
provide them appropriate solutions. It helps them out in solving problem of miscommunication
and making employees feel valued.
Cognitive: It is other main approach which can allow manager of health and social care centre to
promote communicational effective practices and solving all problems. This theory provides
opportunities for social support through expectations, self efficiencies and others. By making an
effective use of this theory or skill building exercise at workplace, manager at centre can increase
independency as well as develop healthy relation among practitioners.
So, it can be said that by using these both strategies, all problems related to
communication can be decreased and improve relation as well.
LO 3
3.1 Standard ICT software packages to support work in health and social care
Standard information communication tools software packages play an important role as it
can increase effectiveness of organization and performance of health and social care centre.
Nowadays, there are several health and social care centre where care workers make an effective
use of these tools in order to support work in social and health care setting. This software
includes wide range of techniques or applications like ambient assistant living, decision support,
e-therapy and electronic records etc.
One of the main example of ICT software packages which is supporting and can allow manager
of health and social care centre to support work is Web 2.0 sociable technologies and social
software. It is easier to apply it at workplace of health and social care and it includes several
techniques such as: collaborative filtering, social networking services, search engines which can
allow staff to share files and informations in an effective manner. In addition, in the context of
effectiveness of ICT software packages it can be said that Web 2.0 technologies help to manage
online information and knowledge source (Haluza and Jungwirth, 2018). On the other hand, it
can also be said that using these techniques is not an easy task as people may face some
problems. So, they all need to focus on reliability, performance and usability as well.
It is also stated that some people and healthcare professionals do not believe in results
which they get by applying ICT software in the context of accuracy etc. So, it can be said that by
focusing on performing standard procedures, manager of this centre can meet the needs of ICT
applications.
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3.2 Benefits of using ICT in health and social care for users of services, care organizations and
workers
There are several benefits of using ICT software and reasons which can allow manager of health
and social care to make use of this at their workplace such as:
 One of the main benefit for service users is it improves quality of health and social care
services which can improve communication and reduce patient stay at centre.
 Other benefits for social care practitioners or care workers is it increases coordination
between them and allows them to decrease errors and failures which caused by
medication errors. These software techniques are mainly used for collecting, monitoring
and sharing informations which can improve quality of services and communication as
well.
 It can also improve living of healthcare workers by reducing safety risks by making use
of social alarm system, video monitoring system which are some effective techniques of
this ICT software (Papadopoulos and et.al., 2020).
 Other important benefit is it can improve productivity which is beneficial for care
workers and care organization. When employees get all informations and make them safe
at workplace then they are more likely to focus on their work which increases
productivity and performance.
 It helps them out in improving image of the company and engaging customers with the
company.
 It also encourage collaboration and retention rate of workers and clients with the
company.
So, from the above it can be suggested to health and social care centre that they should apply this
software and decrease all problems.
3.3 Legal consideration in the use of ICT impact on health and social care
There is requirement of following some legislation and rules to manager of health and
social care if they want to implement ICT tools and software. One of the main reasons of
following all rules is to prevent themselves against lawsuit and any type of errors.
They need to pay attention to diagnostic and health monitoring areas which requires
application of ICTs. The reason behind it is budget cut. For making a effective impact of this
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