Evaluating Effective Communication and Confidentiality in Healthcare

This essay evaluates communication strategies in healthcare and social care environments, focusing on overcoming barriers to effective communication and interpersonal interactions, while also highlighting the significance of confidentiality in clinical practices. It discusses the three types of communication: verbal, non-verbal, and written, and their importance in healthcare settings, including the communication cycle. The essay also explores societal differences, hierarchical factors, and cultural barriers that can impede effective communication, offering strategies to mitigate these challenges. Confidentiality is presented as a crucial aspect of clinical practice, emphasizing its ethical and legal implications, including patient privacy and the need for informed consent. The case of Mrs. Kaur is used to illustrate the complexities of maintaining confidentiality in the face of language barriers and cognitive impairments, underscoring the need for careful consideration of patient privacy and ethical obligations. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of compassion, consideration, and removing biases to ensure quality service delivery and uphold patient rights.

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND CONFIDENTIALITYFatima
kauser
610137
RATUL
Audery .Mayo
Fatima kauser 610137
Effective communication and confidentiality

1EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND CONFIDENTIALITY
This piece of writing pursues to evaluate the communication strategies that are used in health
care and social care environments to overcome the barriers to effective communication and
interpersonal interactions. In this written account I will also be highlighting the importance of
confidentiality in clinical practices (Mendelson and Rees 2014). Health care and social care
are the sectors, which are of primary importance in the societal structure. As a result, the
communication within this structure is of primary importance because of the inherent
importance of communication (Study.a 2019). Communication are crucial in developing the
structure of any institute as a result the confidentiality of the stakeholders are of greater
importance in this respect.
There are 3 types of communication such as verbal none verbal and written.These types of
communication are all effective in different ways. Verbal communication is the sharing of
information between individuals by using speech (BusinessDictionary.com, 2020). It is important
in health care sector to use verbal communication in order to inform the patient. As this can tell the
health care worker how they are feeling or what concerns they have by asking questions. Referring to
the case study Verbal communication is important as due to language barrier in order for her to
understand what is being said she will need to have an interpreter for her to understand the crucial
information which is being said to her .
There is also none verbal communication this is the process of sending and receiving messages
without using words , either spoken or written (ThoughtCo, 2020). None verbal communication is also
very important in communication for service user as it implies clues to help guide or instruct them.
Mrs. Kaur from the case study would experience having none verbal communication as due to
dementia and hard of hearing as this is a barrier itself as she would be able to communicate
effeixtively if she doesn’t understand what is being said . However by using none verbal
communication such as gestures pointing at cards or objects to demonstrate what she is saying will
help overcome the communication barrier and perform an better outstanding conversation between
her and the professional during the appointment .

2EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND CONFIDENTIALITY
Written communication is the process of conveying a message through the written symbols (Business
Jargons, 2020). It is very good for long distance and respective standing orders, it gives the receiver
sufficient time to think, act and react. Also be used as a legal document. Mrs. Kaur will be using this
type of communication as she would have received a call or letter to tell her what time the
appointment is and what the appointment is about. This gives her information as it will make her
prepared when arriving to the appointment.
Communication cycle
In order to communicate, there is cycle which takes place in order for a conversation to take place.
There are 6 stages of the communication cycle. An idea accours – this is the first stage of the cycle
where the initial idea begins and you start to think how you are going to communicate your idea . This
leads onto the second stage of cycle which is message coded, this is the stage you begin to think on
how you are going convey the message by putting your thoughts into language or codes such as sign
language . Third cycle is message sent this is the point where the message is sent either in a form of
speaking, writing or other ways such as using braile or sign language. Message is then decoded. This
stage iis very important as in this stage the person needs to interpeate the message, this could affect
the communication cycle if not done accordingly as assumptions can be made. For example, in a
health care setting if the nurses give the wrong information to the doctors due to the lack of
understanding the doctor can put the patient’s life at risk by not having the right information from the
nurse. Lastly sixth cycle of the communication is when the message is understood and are able to
communicate effectively. ( I need to reference from my book !)
Disclosure protocol
Health sector is a primary institution of the society. As a result, the societal differences like
class, caste and gender barriers are the most important reducing factors in the cases of
carrying out effective communication. These factors of societal differences are joined by the

3EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND CONFIDENTIALITY
hierarchical factors that are present in any organization. Working environment and job
satisfaction also acts as an marker in the way the communications are carried out. Wellbeing
of the patient and the quality of the treatment that the patients receive from the health care
providers also depends upon the interpersonal interaction that the patients have with them
(Visser, Deliens and Houttekier 2014). The situation is same with most of the social service
institutions like shops, malls, postal services and many more. The pattern is same in these
sectors as it is in the health care sector. Effective communication, both on professional and
interpersonal level is important to mitigate socio cultural barriers (Kazarian and Evans 2001).
The discussion should take into consideration the multidimensional, complex and dynamic
nature of communication in any functional domain whatsoever. Communication is
intrinsically linked with the factors that are linked with the concerned domain (uwaterloo.co
2019). Perception of the concerned person is coupled with their socio-cultural differences.
Situations are approximately similar in both social and health care sectors. Certain strategies
can be referred to in this context to mitigate the barriers posed in front of effective
communication (Norouzinia et al 2015).
First barrier is created by the inhibiting factors present in the act of listening. It is suggested
that while listening the personal agendas and perception should be kept aside from the
professional domain. At times the communication also gets manipulated by the biased
opinion about the speakers which overpowers the message that the speaker is trying to
impart. Stereotyping and general perceptions are the most effective barrier that prevents the
expression of effective communication. This includes the bias involving gender stereotypes
and the differences of cultures and caste. Cultural barriers can bring under its umbrella the
linguistic differences that comes as a result of the differences intrinsic to every culture. All
these factors come together to provide the persons involve in communication with a distorted

4EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND CONFIDENTIALITY
and blurred view about the others involved in the communication. The process is not a single
stranded but is a moral one.
Health care and public or social care sectors are the one where the effectiveness of the
communication is important in order to enhance the productivity and efficiency of these
sectors. Differences in communication are a quite common place in medical sectors where the
information about the services and the clarity of the procedures are not communicated with
the families of the patient or the patient themselves. At times, the biases of the nurses and the
physicians are colored with their inherent bias about the context of the people. Such biases
not only disrupt effective communication but the nature and the value of the services
provided. Compassion and consideration are the important keys that help one to soften with
the faults of the situation. The situation is approximately like the other sectors of social
services which runs on high chances of the nature of their services getting disrupted because
of the ineffectiveness of the communication that is involved.
These barriers in effective communication demands well-articulated strategies so that
effective mitigation is possible. The first strategy needs to aim at the shift of focus from the
context of the person to the importance of the issue on which the communication is based
upon. Such removal of concern allows the stakeholders in communication to engage with the
others in an effective communication (Consulting.com 2019). This can be helpful in
removing inherent stereotypes and bias. The strategy of removing bias can be pushed a bit
forward to remove manipulation in order to fit into one’s own ideology. The communication
needs to be flexible so that the effectiveness can be enhanced.
Confidentiality is a crucial aspect of clinical practices, which aims at safeguarding the
information and the privacy of the patients. It is central in ensuring the trust between the
patient and the medical practitioners. The moral implication of confidentiality is invested in

5EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND CONFIDENTIALITY
the welfare of the patients. However, in practice confidentiality is seldom practice despite of
the oaths taken by the doctors before they indulge in practice. GMC (General Medical
Council) of UK has set guidelines which poses confidentiality of the patient as a professional
duty of the doctors and the medical personals (Beltran-Aroca, 2016) . However, despite of the
values of confidentiality hailed in medical journal contemporary medical scenario has
experienced a shift from that ideology. The shift can be attributed to several causes. The
disclosure can take place with the patient giving their content. Disclosures can also take
place because of legal requirement and public interest.
American Jurisdiction in the 19th century had furnished a general law, which emphasized the
importance confidentiality and moved further to safeguard to confidentiality of the patients in
certain court proceedings. Victorian Supreme court acknowledged the confidentiality and its
preservation as of crucial concern for the whole community. The health Service Act of 1988,
was looked up to by the hospitals as a guideline for safeguarding the confidentiality of the
patients. Privacy laws invests special emphasis on the protection of health information. It
combines the laws of the state and the territory for its functioning. The laws are similar as all
of them works towards providing the patient with certain controls over their medical
information (Burris 1995).
Privacy Laws combine with the aspects that safeguards the control of individuals regarding
the information of their medical grounds. Current situations have experienced a shift from the
earlier state of its absolute nature to the current scenario where breaches of the confidentiality
can be witnessed on legal and social grounds. At times the breaching is carried forward under
the consent of the patients themselves. Confidentiality in the clinical practice should be
promoted on the ground of ethics and morality. Ground of privacy can be used to enhance
such promotions. The promotions need to take into consideration the breaches, which are a
common occurrence executed on legal and social ground. However, in cases of such

6EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND CONFIDENTIALITY
breaches, the consent of the patient should be taken into consideration before the information
is made available for perusal (Mitchell et al 2017).
Case of Mrs. Kaur, demands an urgent safeguarding of privacy. It is primarily due to her
ethnic identity it can be expected that she might be subjected to the prejudices of the society
she is currently residing. Surveys have shown that racial discrimination creates barrier in
front of communication between patients and the medical practitioner. At times, it leads to
discrimination, which is unleashed upon the patients. Her case is complex because of the
involvement of dementia and Alzheimer as contributing symptoms. The medical conditions
have been joined by communication impairment because of language barrier. In such a
complex scenario, it can be suggested that breaching of her private medical information can
proof detrimental for her disposition. The only mandatory breaching that can take place
should be attributed to the requirement of the law. Even then, the importance of privacy and
the consent of the patient should not be overlooked (Singh, Fishman, Rich and Orlowski
2013).
The paper aimed at analyzing the several barriers of effective communication and the course
of discussion has elucidated how the factors primarily generate from socio- political
prejudices and bias. Inherent bias and discrimination not only affects the communication but
create barrier in ensuring quality service that the patient deserves. The propositions hold true
for social services as well. Our perceptions act as a barrier in these biases. Therefore, it had
been suggested that the parties involved in communication should consider the perspective of
others who are standing against them. Existence of human beings are intrinsically linked with
their context by the mode of their communication. The dynamic nature of communication has
been rendered complex by additional social factors. Compassion and being considerate are
the attributes that aids one in mitigating these disparities. The discussion takes into
consideration the privacy and confidentiality of the patients. The issues has been discussed on

7EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND CONFIDENTIALITY
the moral ground as well as on the ground of legislation, which mapped the shift in the
absolute structure of confidentiality. The only breaching in confidentiality can only be
allowed on the legal ground considering the legal necessities and implications of the cases
involved. An excavation into the case of Mrs. Kaur exhibited how confidentiality is crucial in
her case because of her socio-cultural as well as medical dispositions (Hutton et al 2015).

8EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND CONFIDENTIALITY
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