This document is focused on healthcare administration in redefining professionalism in communication among managers, supervisors’ workers, employees and other professional organization among others. This report targets healthcare administrative managers offering medical care. Protection and safety is the fundamental purpose of the private security industry and communication is vital in making healthy security decisions. Incorporation of qualified and strong communication teams will provide the essential skills and expertise needed to manage healthcare operations.
The most suitable type of communication viable in healthcare administration is verbal communication. This type of communication is effective in delivering medical reports to all medical practitioners via the phone, one-on-one or in a group setting (John et al., 2009). This method of communication is basically done orally as senior medical managers communicate with physicians, nurses, patients, and medical office staff one-on-one. In this type of communication, senior medical managers can use stories to construct a common meaning for all employees.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Verbal communication is another type of communication used by senior medical managers in healthcare administration to verify key values and demonstrate how the medical practice should be handled. As a sector that deals with medical issues and operations, senior medical managers have the responsibility to teach all their employees on how to welcome, serve and handle patients with different needs (Lundgren & McMakin, 2018). Senior medical managers use a good tone to tell stories which create high commitment levels to all medical practitioners. The use stories also help to reinforce and perpetuate the culture of the healthcare administration to all workers.
Another type of communication that cannot be avoided in healthcare administration is written communication. Traditionally, this type consist of pen and paper documents, letters, typed electronic documents, SMS, reports, text chats, emails and other means that can be used to convey written symbols. Other tools that senior medical managers can use under this type of communication include social media such as Facebook to communicate between divisions, departments, locations, and employees. Emails can also be used by managers to pass information to hundreds of employees as is easily accessible and it’s inexpensive (Lundgren & McMakin, 2018).
In the medical administration, written communication is used to issue legal instructions to physicians, nurses, and medical office staff. This includes internal memos that medical managers use to pass crucial information such as meetings, employment vacancies, medical diagnosis, and disciplinary actions as well as visit schedules (Wood, 2015). Senior medical managers also use this type of communication when making handbooks, contracts, brochures, press release to produce feedbacks from patients.
Non-verbal communication is the third type of communication that is used in medical administration. This type of communication is crucial to senior medical managers who are conscious of the words they utter and often unconscious to the body language which has the aptitude to either stress or out-send contradictory message to what is verbally communicated (Canale, 2014). Since this type is usually nonverbal, such messages are vital as they reinforce what has been verbally communicated by the senior medical managers to their employees. Non-verbal cues used in the medical administration include tone, general body language, and facial expressions. During meetings, senior medical managers use non-verbal communications cues to express emotions such as stress, disgust or deceit (Lundgren & McMakin, 2018). They can be used to convey personality and status, to control conversations during meetings in order to allow for turn taking. Senior medical managers can also use non-verbal communication to replace speech. This includes the use of one-on-one gestures which signal attitudes, requests and intent. The most likely audience for this type of communication is the physician, office medical staff and physicians.
The fourth type of communication that can be used in medical administration is visual communication. This is a type of communication enable senior medical managers to use visual aids such as illustration, color, drawing, graphic design, signs, topography and other electronic sources to communicate to physicians, office medical staff, and nurses. Senior medical managers use this type of communication to reinforce or replace written communication completely.
Elements of a Successful Written Communication
For a written communication to be effective, it must have a professional tone. Most readers form opinions of a written material from the tone, style, and attitude of the material. Attitudes such as “you- attitude” and “I-attitude” that shows the sincerity of the senior medical manager should also be used (Wood, 2015). On the other hand, special care should be taken when crafting and conveying unwelcoming information. When declining a request or passing sad news, the problem should be acknowledged as well as explain your stand diplomatically.
Font is the second element of a successful written communication. The choice of font can hinder the ease, comfort, and readability of written security materials. It is important to choose the appropriate text font for a document based on the audience, formality, and purpose. For formal documents like company memos and letters, business-like fonts like Times New Romans, Courier New, Garamond, serif fonts and Book Antigua can be used. Documents that are not formal such as emails, an easy-to-read font such as Verdaba, Tahoma, Courier New or Garamond can be used (Canale, 2014). Fonts such as those used in drafting restaurant menus and invitations such as Monotype Corsiva and Point Brush are inappropriate for medical reports. In written communication, text attributes such as bold, caps, italics and underline should be selected carefully. When the font is too big, a document appears juvenile, and when small, the document looks crowded and therefore hard to read. Attributes should only be used when emphasizing key documents such as employment advisements. The selected font size should be appealing to the eye of a reader in order for a document to convey its intended message successfully.
A successful written medical communication material should be free from common mistakes. This includes poor grammar, spelling mistakes, and punctuation. A good document should be proofread using the spelling and grammar check features. Some common mistakes can have both legal and ethical impacts. These mistakes include date omission, names, signatures, and lack of company letterhead or logo or at times using inappropriate or gender-based language (Lundgren & McMakin, 2018). The other element of a successful written communication should follow the right format.
Potential Consequences of Poor Written Communication
In the medical administration, poorly written communication and inaccurate patient records can be devastating for the medical office staff and patients. Although some mishaps in the medical administration are unavoidable, poor written communication among medical practitioners can lead to the following consequences (John et al., 2009). Medical errors such as symptom diagnosis, treatment, care, and medical diagnosis are the first consequences of poor written communication within the healthcare administration. Medical office staff, physicians and nurses need to understand the significance of proper communication and documentation when attending to patients. When medical information is poorly written, healthcare professionals cannot be able to identify and amend mistakes hence leading to an adverse medical event.
Poor written communication leads to long wait times of patients. The number one complaint that medical administration offices receive is long wait times that originate from poor written medical reports. This makes patients long enough what being told what is causing the delay as practitioners take long hours to interpret what is written. Miscommunication among physicians, patients, and staff can exacerbate scheduling conflicts that are the greatest reason for long wait times (John et al., 2009).
Elements of Interpersonal Communication
Interpersonal communication essentially involves the exchange of information between two medical practitioners. It can also take place among large groups’ practitioners. The main elements of interpersonal communication are verbal, nonverbal and paraverbal factors. All these elements work individually and together to improve the working conditions of the medical practitioners. Nonverbal elements included interpersonal communication associated with the body language’s effect and the interpretation of verbal cues (Roloff, 2015). This includes eye contact where the speaker needs to hold the gaze of the listeners. The perception of the message is also affected by the speaker’s posture. For instance, facing away or slouching depicts lack of interest. The manner in which a speaker positions the arms, legs, and hands together with some gestures like crossing your arms around your body implies that a person does not have experience.
In verbal elements, language style, choice of words and grammar play a critical verbal role in interpersonal communication. All these elements assist in controlling the medical message that is presented hence affecting the formation of the message. The manner in which words are chosen and organized can promote the clarity and effectiveness of the message being conveyed through the informal and formal cues present in a language.
Paraverbal elements are the third element and they include factors like tone, voice pitch and rate of speech. These elements combine with the verbal elements of interpersonal communication to create emphasis on the aspects being addressed. The meaning of the medical message being conveyed can be lost if certain syllables are being stressed by the speaker. Another element is volume. Words that are pronounced with more volume carry great meaning than those that the speaker presents using normal volume (Canale, 2014).
If all the three elements of interpersonal are combined, clarity and understanding of medical information can be achieved within the medical administration. Misinterpretation and confusion of information can only be attained only if the message is not constructed and delivered in a clear and concise manner (John et al., 2009). Healthcare professionals should ensure that all medical information and documents are properly written and communicated clearly for the first time to avoid chances of further analyzing or repeating to ensure proper understanding.
References
Canale, M. (2014). From communicative competence to communicative language pedagogy. In Language and communication (pp. 14-40). Routledge.
Lundgren, R. E., & McMakin, A. H. (2018). Risk communication: A handbook for communicating environmental, safety, and health risks .
John Wiley & Sons. McGilton, K. S., Boscart, V., Fox, M., Sidani, S., Rochon, E., & Sorin‐Peters, R. (2009). A systematic review of the effectiveness of communication interventions for health care providers caring for patients in residential care settings. Worldviews on Evidence‐Based Nursing , 6 (3), 149-159.
Roloff, M. E. (2015). Theorizing interpersonal communication: Progress and problematic practices. Communication Theory , 25 (4), 420-425.
Wood, J. T. (2015). Interpersonal Communication: Everyday Encounters . Nelson Education.
Appendixes
Memo
From: The Hiring Manager
To: All Department Members
Cc: Senior Medical Manager
Date: Dec 4, 2018
Subject: New Vacation Policy
Dear all the Department Members,
Hello everyone. I am writing in reference to today’s managers’ meeting. I would like to inform you about the organization’s new vacation policy and the new regulations being implemented. The company’s managers have reviewed the vacation policy and they think that a little adjustment will be good for the operation of the facility and its overall performance.
The new vacation policy states the following in regard to the employees’ vacation period. Employees with three or fewer years of service will be offered one to four weeks of paid vacation. Employees that have between three and five years of service will have two to five weeks of paid vacation. And lastly, employees with five years or more of service will now be offered three to four weeks of paid vacation. In addition to that, I would like to bring to your attention that employees must submit a vacation request at least one month prior to the vacation date. Employees are also required to send the vacation request to the direct supervisor. Please note that no more than two employees of any one department should be on vacation at the same time. These policy updates will be implemented as soon as possible.
I wish you all the best as you adapt to these changes. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this new vacation policy, please don’t hesitate to let me now.
Thank you
Xxxxx.
Professional Email
From: Susan
To: Manager
Subject: Concern Over Postmortem Training.
Hello Manager. I hope all is well. Thank you for the effort you have put in training and for even going an extra mile in availing resources for my coaching to ensure that I understand my new roles in the security operations. I have really had a good time learning these skills. This has been the best sessions in my career. However, my first working day was so hectic something which made me so unhappy. This is despite the many hours I have spent training and doing many practical.
Kindly advise me on the areas that I should work and improve on to perform better in this position. I like the job a lot that it hurts me to underperform. I am very much available if you would like to add me some more training.
Your help will be highly appreciated.
Thank you.
Susan.
Text
You are invited to an interview at Merryville Mission Hospital at 9am this Friday on 22 Clerkenwell Road. Please call back on this number in case of any problems. Pater from Merryville Mission Hospital Finance HR
Social Media post
Our hospital is hiring this summer. All interested individual should visit Merryville Mission Hospital website to view our job description and qualifications.
