Unit 1 - Developing Effective Communication in Health and Social Care

Communication is vital with in a health and social care setting. Good communication is an essential ingredient to any successful relationship including those between service users and healthcare professionals. Communication skills are important in at least two fundamental ways. First effective communication enhances the service user and healthcare professionals ability to understand one another. Effective communication, for example, allows individuals to more clearly express or articulate their needs and desires, which in turn, makes it easier for a healthcare professional to be responsive to those needs. Greater understanding of service users also fosters greater intimacy of sense of connection. Second effective communication does not only help the relationship between service users and healthcare professionals but it also between colleagues as these effective communication skills help individuals to work through the inevitable problems and conflicts that arise in all heath and social care settings. Strong communication skills, along with problem solving skills will facilitate colleagues working through many issues, including issues that they may face on a daily basis. Good communication skills, for example, it can help individuals from escalating a disagreement into a major conflict. They can also help prevent conflict by reducing the number of misunderstandings that can arise from poor communication skills. Since communication skills will be the foundation upon which other issues and   topics will be explored, developing effective skills in communication is the focus of the first unit. It is hoped that developing and using these skills will help us and others work more effectively through certain situations. This unit will address skills that both the speaker and the listener need to develop their effective communication skills.  
'In the GP surgery, Mrs Iqbal has brought her son for his immunisations but is unsure about the programme on offer. She speaks very...