Communication in Health and Social Care

The inter-team communication issue takes place because of a lack of guidance or ethical dilemmas to staff members. A patient (Mr. X) was in severe condition as he was having issues related to tuberculosis. He had been admitted to a care home in the UK by his family. There were only 3 family members; mother, father and a younger sister. His mother was a dementia patient and his father used to take care of her. However, his little sister is only 7 years old. This family did not know English as their native language was Mandarin. He has been getting services from that particular care home for the last 10 days. At midnight on the 11th day, a nurse who was the carer of Mr. X was asked on the phone to provide clinical information about Mr. X. The person who made the call was the patient's friend and was concerned about him. However, at the time, no person belonging to Mr. X was present in the care home. Owing to this, the nurse was confused about whether to provide information or not as it was strictly told to not share any personal information of patients with third parties. At this juncture, she denied providing any information related to the patient and did not provide information about the same to any of the staff members. However, doctors who were taking care of or handling the case of Mr. X were allowed to provide information to his friends and family on the phone, whenever required. This issue became very dangerous for the family of Mr. X as his mother fell unconscious. Here, she was dying to know about his son and whether he was ok or not. Therefore, the scenario reflects that lack of communication in the team affects the situation of Mr. X's mother.

Models of Communication

According to Shannan's model, there are different elements associated with the communication process such as source, encode, decode, and receiver. It shows that information sources like management and doctors prepare message in a clear manner. They have some purposes for their message and write it down in a clear manner in order to allocate tasks as well as resources among staff members (Charney, 2010). Similarly, the transmitter helps to encode messages given by the sender or doctors. Here, nursing staff can easily understand the information disseminated by their immediate supervisors. According to the given scenario, doctors, therapists, etc. use media or channels like e-mail, the internet, notice boards, or printed documents. This facilitates to provision of appropriate information through which all the staff members can know the rules and regulations associated with confidentiality. The last second procedure of Shannon's model of communication is decoded thereby staff members translate all the information and apply the same at the workplace. It can be critically evaluated that Shannon's model does not lay emphasis on different interpretations and unequal power relations which may affect overall procedure to a great extent. However, such kind of difference affects an individual and his work in the organization. Owing to this, it might be said that the wrong interpretation was done by one of the nursing staff and accordingly, he did not provide information about Mr. X to his friend.

The linear model of communication is divided into three parts under which the sender encodes the message and disseminates the same via the effective channel. The given scenario reflects that nursing staff gets information with the help of the Internet and E-mail. However, their immediate supervisor delivers important information in face-to-face meetings. They suffer interruptions related to noise and poor networks (Davies and et.al., 2012). This scenario affects their performance to a great extent. This may be the reason external inference created barriers to meeting the expectations of individuals in the organization. It can be critically evaluated that the one-way communication procedure does not allow nursing staff to provide feedback. This affects the performance of nursing staff because they may face issues while rendering services to end users. This model can be applied in a given scenario where a nurse is confused about providing the information and denied the same (Drouet and et.al., 2013). It reflects issues related to poor communication in the team because doctors already knew regarding the same and they used to provide data related to the health condition of Mr. X. It serves as a support to the mother of the patient as she was already suffering from dementia.

Owing to this, senders and receivers know the purpose of the information and they discuss the same (Guangzhi, 2012). This aspect facilitates an individual to provide immense support for completing their work in an effectual manner. However, being supervisors, doctors of care homes are responsible for the work done by their subordinates. For this purpose, an effective mode of communication is applied in which workers can come to know regarding rules and regulations.

Teamwork and Communication

According to Lim, Maubach, and Zhuo (2009), teamwork refers to the efforts of two or more people to achieve common task. However, the effectiveness of teamwork depends on proper communication procedures. For this purpose, a team of nursing staff is managed with the help of different types of meetings. Here, formal and informal meetings are taken by doctors through which staff members get a better understanding related to a number of issues. According to the given scenario, one of the nurses was not aware that a friend of Mr. X could be provided with sufficient information. It provides convenience to all the staff members by offering them important information related to rules and regulations for transferring important data of patients. At this juncture, E-mails are used through which each nurse will come to know about their work areas and they will be able to manage the same effectively (Mehrali and et. al., 2013).

Team communication skills are also very important in the context of a given scenario. The first one is cohesiveness which shows that all members of the team work together to deliver good quality services to a large number of service users. It aids in developing a better understanding among doctors, therapists, and nursing staff who are taking care of particular patients. It proves to be effective in resolving issues related to lack of coordination and motivation. However, effective team building is also associated with cohesiveness only (Nordgren, 2011). Owing to this, the main focus is laid on the integration of the team where each participant provides feedback and they are also involved in decision making procedure. Here, team leader such as doctors focuses on building good relationships with other personnel. Such kind of integration makes it possible for them to make nursing staff aware of all related issues (O'Malley, Cohen, and Grossman, 2010).

Sharing is also the most important communication skills in the team under which each person share simple facts with everybody. Not only this but personnel are provided the chance to raise their queries in order to resolve the issues. At the same time, professional development is also important under which personnel give preferences upon learning. Here, nursing staff is provided opportunities for their development by offering them on-the-job training.

Salama and et.al., (2010) reflect that off-the-job training like coaching and mentoring are also used in care homes through which they can improve their communication skills. This aspect assists them while sharing any kind of important information with a third person. However, poor communication in the team affects service quality to a great extent. Owing to this, there must be a provision whereby management motivates employees to share each and every issue at the right time. The current scenario also reflects the careless attitude of the nursing staff which in turn affected the mother of Mr. X.

We Promise Exceptional Assignment Writing & No AI Shortcuts !

Order Now View Samples Assignment help

Smith and et.al., (2012) stated that conference and board rooms are prepared for discussion with personnel in order to remove distractions from the external environment. This procedure will make it possible for them to deliver information without any kind of distraction. Furthermore, the Data Protection Act 1998 and Health and Social Care Act 2012 are also discussed with personnel (Smith and et.al., 2012). It assists them in taking into account legislative aspects and accordingly, treating service users. However, being a leader of the team, an individual is required to focus on issues arising in the team. This is done with the help of regular meeting under which employees or nursing staff share their common issues with management. Zwetsloot and et.al., (2010) argued that information and communication technology is applied at the workplace of health and social care. It enables them to keep all important data of visitors or service users with proper security. Furthermore, for using information and communication technology, all the employees are provided with training or learning. This aspect makes it possible for management to ensure continuous learning.

Dealing With Conflict

According to Nordgren (2011), conflict is a common thing at the workplace which may affect the performance of an individual or entire team to a great extent. The given scenario depicts that the staff member did not know that a friend of Mr. X could ask for his personal information. At this juncture, another staff member might tell him something wrong for not working properly. This can create issues for the entire team by increasing the stress on nursing staff. Here, the leader of the team such as a doctor, therapist, or senior staff member at first acknowledges the conflict. For example, he/she will make it clear to the entire team that nobody has the right to blame others. It is the only management who will decide the punishment criteria for everybody. This procedure will be helpful for them to consider that they are treated equally. Here, the issues will be identified and the responsible person will be asked to focus on all the information. It can be critically evaluated that in case of absence of any staff member for a particular day, the authorized person will deliver the important information to the same on the next day.

Otherwise, proper communication will not be maintained and its negative impact can be observed on service quality. Thus, after addressing the issues, the next step such as a discussion of the impact will be communicated among the team (Smith and et.al., 2012). Here in the given scenario, all team members are communicated that just because of lack of concentration among staff members, a patient gets affected which indicates a very bad quality of service. They will further communicate the impact of one person's fault on the entire team. The next step is agreement on a cooperative process which reflects that every individual of the team is asked for cooperation in order to ensure integration in the team. This again supports the corporation in delivering good quality services with proper communication among each member (Mehrali and et. al., 2013).

Few more samples on Health and Social Care

• Partnership in Health and Social Care
• Communication in Health and Social Care

All these aspects are associated with preparing for the solution. The next major step for dealing with conflict is to understand the situation wherein the position of every individual included in the team will be clarified. At the same time, all the factors related to issues will be gathered and conveyed to the team (Srinivasan, 2013). At last, the entire team will reach an agreement with the consent of all the team members. In addition to this, conflicts are prevented with the participation of employees and active listening as well as being open in the team. All such practices facilitate to prevention of conflicts and give flexibility for staff members.

Zwetsloot and et.al., (2010) information and communication technology saves overall time required to render service to users by nursing staff taking their care. It is because data can be disseminated in each department in a quick manner that tends to determine the overall success of the care home. Thus, ICT will be helpful in to cater needs of all individuals associated with the team who are providing services to the patients. It will also support service users to access good quality services from care homes. However, they can effectively provide their feedback in case of any kind of faulty service. In addition to this, service users will be asked to provide remedies in case of faulty action taken by care workers (Communications, 2016). It aids in generating a positive attitude among them and meet their expectations in an effectual manner.

Suggestions to Improve Practices

The current scenario shows that service users come from different areas and they do not understand a common language. Owing to this, they may face issues while rendering services. At this juncture, the care home can use a translator which helps to translate language into normal English. However, a person who is in the position of receptionist must have knowledge of some major languages (Mehrali and et. al., 2013). This aspect makes it possible for clients or service users to get treatment effectively. For example, an individual coming to take services of a UK care home may face issues as he does not have any idea regarding the English language. For this purpose, the receptionist will make it possible to resolve issues by converting their language to English. Furthermore, everybody such as doctors, therapists, and nursing staff must be trained in a common corporate culture which helps them to support service users and coordinate in teams to meet expectations in an effectual manner.

Information and communication technology can also be used in a team whereby management stores information of clients with confidentiality. However, access is not provided to each member working in the corporation so that service users can be free from related worries. Similarly, they must be given permission to use a translator so their issues can be resolved if they do not have an idea regarding the common language of the care home (Guangzhi, 2012). In addition to this, care workers must be motivated with monetary and non-monetary rewards which will help them to coordinate in a team. Apart from this, the good performance of personnel can be appraised with recognition which will have a positive impact on their working style.

Formal and informal meetings must be conducted with nursing staff from time to time. It assists management to resolve their issues by noticing them at the right time. At the same time, rules and regulations must be communicated regarding to code of conduct. For example, if someone is asking to access the private information of service users and then, the same news will be delivered to the head of the team (Salama and et.al., 2010). This aspect is effective for making quick decisions and providing remedies for service users. In the given case, the nursing staff could have informed the team leader so that he might provide information to the mother of a patient. Not only this, feedback can be taken from participants by filling out the assessment sheet. It provides an opportunity to change the current procedure of working (Zwetsloot and et.al., 2010).

On a critical note, if the workforce is not performing well they may have some kind of feeling of fear as management can give them punishment. For instance, management may rank their performance in a negative manner which may have an impact on their career growth. Furthermore, this scenario will help them to improve their current aspect of doing work. In addition to this, orientation must be done by stating the code of conduct of business (Nordgren, 2011). It aids in meeting the expectations of all the service users and those related to care homes. As per the given scenario, doctors handling patients with tuberculosis can set guidelines for future improvement in teamwork. In this case, a formal meeting will be conducted with a team where they will be asked to coordinate and resolve their queries while disseminating information.

Conclusion

The aforementioned essay concludes that communication is very important for the smooth operation of any business as it supports the team to work with integration and motivates staff to deliver good quality services to a large number of service users. This aspect enables management to resolve team issues and develop good relations with the workforce as well as service users. However, the use of a translator is effective for both the care workers and service users because they can understand the fact in a simple manner. Furthermore, care workers must be provided with continuous learning by highlighting some of the specific issues (Guangzhi, 2012). This also provides support for the overall corporation to remove stress and ensure integration between teams. Furthermore, the free flow of communication from top to down is the key to creating a competitive edge of care homes in the marketplace where goodwill is created in an easy manner (Lim, Maubach, and Zhuo, 2009).

It can also be said that conflicts are resolved with the active participation of service providers which in turn leads to an increase in their motivation level. However, in some critical situations, service users can also be incorporated into the process of resolving conflicts (Davies and et.al., 2012). Similarly, the leader of the team must adopt both a flexible and rigid approach at the time of solving issues. This proves to be effective in providing immense support for their team member and motivating them to contribute towards achieving long as well as short term objectives.

Furthermore, interference should be avoided at the time of disseminating important information among the team (Charney, 2010). It facilitates clarifying the facts and figures of the team which may affect the overall performance of the same. At this juncture, personnel are motivated for their good performance and punished for the bad ones. This aspect also serves in an effective manner for providing motivation. In addition to this, service users are provided comfortable environment by understanding their specific needs and assisting them in some critical situations.

Get coursework writing services from our experts!

References

• Charney, W., 2010. Handbook of Modern Hospital Safety. 2nd ed. CRC Press.
• Davies, J., and et.al., 2012. Developing high relational support services for individuals with long term mental health needs: scheme description and service evaluation. Mental Health and Social Inclusion.
• Drouet, M. and et.al., 2013. Short-term sonic-hedgehog gene therapy to mitigate myelosuppression in highly irradiated monkeys: hype or reality&quest.Bone marrow transplantation.
• Guangzhi, H. S. C., 2012. Study on doctoral dissertations on advertising in China.Journal of Advertising Study.
• Lim, M. C. C., Maubach, G. and Zhuo, L. 2009. TGF-β1 down-regulates connexin 43 expression and gap junction intercellular communication in rat hepatic stellate cells. European journal of cell biology.
• Mehrali, M. and et.al., 2013. Shape-stabilized phase change materials with high thermal conductivity based on paraffin/graphene oxide composite.Energy Conversion and Management.
• Nordgren, L., 2011. Healthcare matching: conditions for developing a new service system. International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences.

UPTO55%

Avail The Benefit Today!

To View this & another 50000+ free

Enter Email

Submit