Training of Lecturers

Introduction

The patient will never care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
(Terry Canale in his American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Vice Presidential Address)

Communication is one of the most frequent activities at which the human being participates. Through communication we transmit messages, receive other people’s messages, initiate and maintain relations, and we solve conflicts.
Communication is a social act that can be performed deliberately or involuntarily, consciously or unconsciously – through gestures, mimic, posture, dressing style, even silence being possible to transmit specific messages.
Doctor-patient communication is a major component of the process of health care. Doctors are in a unique position of respect and power. Hippocrates suggested that doctors may influence patients' health.(19) Effective doctor-patient communication can be a source of motivation, incentive, reassurance, and support. A good doctor-patient relationship can increase job satisfaction and reinforce patients' self-confidence, motivation, and positive view of their health status, which may influence their health outcomes
As far as communication with the pediatric patient is concerned (from both sides the medical provider towards the patient), encouragement of an adequate communication is a fundamental element in building a culture of medical health centered on the patients and their needs.
Information must be conveyed in a way that is clear and engaging, supporting the health care professional and enabling the children and their family to become competent partners in the consultation.

Communication must be:

• Open and complete, adjusted to child’s needs and developmental particularities;
• Based on dignity and respect (medical providers listen to the patient and take into account their believes and preferences when deciding the health care plan);
• Built by participation – patients and their families are encouraged to participate in the medical act and the decision-making process it presupposes;
• Realized by collaboration: the medical staff, the patients and their families, and the administrative staff collaborate for realizing a high quality medical act, efficacy and efficiency.

Adequate communication with patients and their families is meant to transmit a message, but also to establish a connection between them and the medical providers, starting from the primordial values of the medical profession – the desire to help towards both high quality of care and moral support offered to someone in pain.
In pediatric departments, where the patients are children, it is important that the environment and the materials used should facilitate communication with children and should be adjusted to their needs.
Besides verbal and nonverbal communication, the following strategies can be used in pediatric communication: games, marionettes, dolls, books, toys, images, and activities will have a ludic character, favoring, therefore, stress release and decrease of anxiety.

Online Resources

• Patient-Physician communication: the why and how The article underlines the value of doctor-patient communication and pinpoints the best strategies for effective communication
• The Most Important Skill in Medicine The article argues that the most important skill in medicine is interactive, individualized communication, patients who communicate well are more adherent to therapies and more satisfied with care.
• Doctor-patient communication: A review The article establishes the benefits of communication, barriers to communication and suggestions to improve.
• Barriers for doctor-patient communication The site presents some barriers that can appear from the doctor’s and the patient’s part.