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Promote communication in health, social care or children’s and young people’s settings
Promote communication in health, social care or children’s and young people’s settings
1 Understand why communication is important in the work setting
2 Be able to meet the communication and language needs, wishes and preferences of individuals
3 Be able to overcome barriers to communication
4 Be able to respect equality and diversity when communicating
5 Be able to apply principles and practices relating to confidentiality at work.
Communication is a two-way process between people, where information is sent, received and interpreted.
For communication to be effective, information needs to be understood correctly.
It is important to communicate this information because it could include peopleʼs needs and emotions such as:
fear anger hunger pain joy love.
In health and social care good communication skills are essential, we need them to communicate with ColleaguesChildrenManagersOther health care professionalsPeople who use services & their families and friendsIt supports the development of effective relationships and helps to build trust, aids understanding of individuals’ needs, prevents misunderstandings and supports the development of your own knowledge and skills.
There are many reasons to communicate but the main basic reasons can be identified asto express needsto share ideas and informationto reassureto express feelings and emotions eg fear, love, hate, pleasure, pain ….to build relationships (personal & professional)to socialiseto ask questions and find out informationto share experiences
Communication is at the heart of every relationship both professional and personal.
Professionally you will be communicating with everyone you come into contact with and even with those you don’t!
NB. Remember communication isn’t just verbal nor is it one way.
Think about the consequences of poor communication (both by you and to you) with :
• Your manager or team leader • Your colleagues• The people you support • Their friends and relatives• GP’s & Nurses• Hairdressers etc. etc.
The results of poor communication could include:
• The person not knowing your needs or you not knowing theirs
E.g. If you don’t tell your manager you feel that you have not received enough training they won’t know how you feel or if your manager is unhappy with your performance but doesn’t say anything then how do you know you need to improve?
• Inaccurate information being passed on to others or you
E.g. If you don’t complete records accurately, people following you at work won’t know what you have or haven’t done or may not know of any changes
• Individuals you are there to support feeling unsupported, un-cared for, depressed etc.
• You feeling stressed and let down by your manager and/or team and vice versa
How else does communication affect relationships at work?
Well without good communication you wouldn’t be able to build relationshipsresolve conflicts or stop them happening in the first placeyou wouldn’t be able to build a team and support each other.
Communication methods
Appropriate touch
Appropriate touch
Hand gestures
Hand gestures
Space and position
Space and position
Tone of voice
Tone of voice
Facial expressions
Facial expressionsEye
contact
Eye contact
Body language
Body language
Pitch of voice
Pitch of voice
We need to watch / observe the reactions of people we are talking to, things we need to pay attention to are: Speech - tone, pitch, silence (does the person sound angry, upset, happy, sad or are they just not communicating?)non-verbal communication e.g. body language, facial expressions, eye contact, gestures, touchThese can give us clues to understand the emotional state of the person, remember when the body says one thing and the words another trust the body it rarely lies. They can also help us to decide if information has been understood, again people may say they have understood what you have said but facial expressions may show confusion.Another reason to watch the aforementioned is so that we can tell when and how to adjust our communication methods to suit the individual and aids in recognition of barriers to communication.
The first thing you should do when supporting an individual new to you is to find out the
Communication Needs and Preferences
of the person that you support.
Can you think of ways that you should be able to find this information ?
Looking in the persons care plan, in the communication section this is especially useful when the care plan has been written with the person and their family and/or with information from specialist communication professionals.
Asking the persons family and friends, they can be a valuable resource of information, especially if the person themselves has difficulty communicating, but you need to remember that whilst they may be able to help they are not professionals and may not be aware of the all the needs of the individual and the individual may not be happy for them to pass on info.
When communicating with people, it is important not to make assumptions about their communication preferences. You need to consider their:
beliefs values culture.
Asking your colleagues or the persons Key worker, If the person has a key worker they should be aware of all the communication needs of the individual. It is part of their role to be able to pass this type of information onto colleagues. If a colleague has already supported the individual they may be able to pass on information on their communication needs
• Asking the person themselves. If they are able to communicate with you, the person themselves are best placed to give you information on their needs, wishes and preferences, after all they know more about themselves than anybody. But this may not be possible if they have dementia, mental health problems or are unable to use standard forms of communication.
Barriers to effective communication can be caused by:
the environment the person the care worker.
Can you think of a how each of the above can be a barrier to effective communication?
To overcome barriers to effective communication, you could:
adapt your communication methods – for example, use different communication methods
adapt the environment – for example, move to a quieter location
assist people with their communication – for example, use assistive technologies.
Ways to maintain confidentiality
Do not give information over
the phone
Do not give information over
the phone
Log off when finished with
computer
Log off when finished with
computer
Keep records secure
Keep records secure
Confirm the identity of people
Confirm the identity of people
Do not talk about work issues in
public
Do not talk about work issues in
public
Use passwords on computers
Use passwords on computers
Sometimes care workers need to obtain additional advice to support the communication needs of people. This advice and support can come from organisations who have extensive knowledge of certain communication issues.
Organisations giving support to communication may include:
● translation services● interpreting services● speech and language services● advocacy services● Alzheimer’s Society (www.alzheimers.org.uk) ● Royal National Institute of Blind People (
www.rnib.org.uk) ● Royal National Institute for Deaf People (
www.rnid.org.uk)● Scope (www.scope.org.uk) ● Stroke Association (www.stroke.org.uk).
Sometimes it is necessary to breach confidential information. If this is the case, you should inform the person involved as soon as possible.Confidentiality may need to be broken to:
comply with a court order protect the public protect the person aid the police with their enquiries.
