The person I feel who demonstrates effective communication is a psychiatrist that I have known for 6 years. We work together in a community mental health program. The reason I believe this Dr. displays excellent communication is because she thoroughly explains herself when discussing symptoms or behaviors related to mental health. She also thoroughly explains medications used for treating those mental health symptoms. Though discussion, the Dr. has shared with me her desire to teach others information and that her primary goal is to help people in any way she can. Not only does she share information but she is open to others opinions and supports a team approach to treatment. There are other Dr.’s in the program I work for, who I feel carry a certain ideal of supremacy, arrogance, and entitlement. I find her to be the exact opposite and in fact she is very flexible and open minded. O’Hair and Wiemann (2009) declare, communication is appropriate when it meets the expectations of the communication partner. It is evident that the Dr. meets the needs of those she is communicating with. I feel that the Dr.’s approach to communication would also be useful in the early childhood field. Educators need to be open and flexible especially when communicating and collaborating with diverse families. It is also important to show respect to colleagues and accepting of their opinions as well.
I like how you mentioned that this Dr. thoroughly explains medications used for treating those mental health symptoms. Medication is one subject that i feel needs to be throughly explained to patients before prescribing. I often find that many Dr's over medicate their patients or often do not discuss the long term consequences or outcomes from the medications.
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ReplyDeleteIn such a field a competent communicator likeyour doctor has to be understanding and most definitely flexible. Misunderstanding a situation can lead to destructive reasoning and hurt relationship, to think well in complex situation and being flexible are necessities to communicate competently.
Thanks for posting!
I, too, feel that many times doctors are not the best communicators. They are obviously intelligent but sometimes have a hard time communicating the necessary information to their patients. Those doctors that are competent communicators are the ones that people request to see again and again. I can definitely identify those that I have seen that are competent communicators and those that are lacking good communication skills. Thanks for sharing!
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