Abstract
This study examines how communication issues affect healthcare supervisors owing to the nature of their roles in healthcare. As a result, the study first mentions the factors involved in communication and the barriers of communication, thus the issues of communication. The study also examines some of the communication issues associated with healthcare supervisors. The study also examines how those communications issues affect healthcare supervisors. As a result, the study includes recommendations to resolve some of the communication issues depending on how they affect healthcare supervisors. Research findings established from various scholarly works indicate that communication issues negatively affect healthcare supervisors. Communication issues have either limited or prevented the ability for healthcare supervisors to effectively relay messages or engage in delegation regarding the required means of operation for the provision of healthcare services.
Introduction
Communication plays an important role in facilitating operations within the healthcare sector. Communication enables the relaying of instructions and messages regarding how operations should be conducted in healthcare facilities, thus ensuring patients receive proper healthcare services (O'Toole, 2012). Effective communication is, therefore, important, especially among healthcare supervisors. This is because healthcare supervisors are responsible for delegating responsibilities among healthcare facility staff members, as well as providing direction with regards to operations in the facility (O'Toole, 2012). As a result, communication issues may affect healthcare supervisors in a manner that limits or prevents their ability to relay the needed information, which may result in the poor provision of healthcare services. Communication issues have a negative implication on healthcare supervisors’ ability to relay necessary information for effective operations of their facilities. The aim of the study, therefore, is to examine and discuss how communication issues affect healthcare supervisors.
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Literature Review
Factors and Barriers of Effective Communication
According to studies, communication consists of three basic components namely the sender, the channel through which a message is relayed, and the receiver (Hanh, 2013). However, there are certain factors that influence effective communication such as locution, illocution, as well as perlocution. Locution refers to the literal understanding of the message being relayed via communication. Illocution refers to the speaker’s intention regarding the message relayed during communication. Perlocution refers to how the receiver of a message perceives communication (Hanh, 2013). Other factors that enhance effective communication include active listening, feedback, articulation, straightforwardness, simplicity, knowledge, as well as the relationship between receiver and sender. Some of the barriers of effective communication include language, physical, emotional, and psychological barriers, information overload, lack of common experience or grounds for communication among others (Hargie, Dickson, &Tourish, 2014).
Communication Issues Associated With Healthcare Supervisors
The capacity for patients to adopt preventive health behaviors, follow through medical recommendations, as well as self-manage chronic medical conditions is positively influenced by the ability of effective communication skills among healthcare team members (McConnell, 2018). The position of a supervisor is a unique position, which serves as the link between the workforce and management. As a result, healthcare supervisors should be able to effectively relay messages to other members of the healthcare team in order to ensure the proper provision of healthcare services. However, there are certain communication issues that may develop, which affect the role played by supervisors. Among the communication issues associated with supervisors include lack of provision of feedback, lack of attention, poor effective relationship building, lack of common experience (Schriver, Cubaka, Nyirazinyoye, Itangishaka & Kallestrup, 2017). Other possible issues of communication associated with supervisors are physical, emotional, and psychological barriers to effective communication (Hargie, Dickson, & Tourish, 2014).
How Communications Issues Affect Healthcare Supervisors
Supervision is significant for service management, as well as to ensure quality service provision within healthcare facilities. As a result, the relationship between supervisors and those receiving supervision influences the quality of service provision in healthcare facilities (McConnell, 2018). Therefore, when there is a poor building of effective relationships between supervisors and those receiving supervision, the communication issue becomes a barrier to the relaying of information and directives.
Therefore, when supervisors develop the communication issue of the inability to build effective relationships with the primary workforce, they become unable to supervise. This prevents them from completing some of the roles they play of supervision, thus one of the ways in which communication issues affects healthcare supervisors. According to a study, the supervisory relationship is the single most important determinant of the outcomes of supervision in comparison to the supervision methods (Schriver, Cubaka, Nyirazinyoye, Itangishaka & Kallestrup, 2017). Therefore, in the event of communication issues, supervisors are unable to form supervisory relationships, which may prevent healthcare facilities from offering quality health care services. Therefore, communication issues undermine the ability of healthcare supervisors to provide quality healthcare services in their facilities.
Communication issues such as failure of developing a two-way communication system between supervisors and those receiving supervision negatively affect supervisors. The absence of a two-way communication system is a communication issue that may prevent supervisors from fulfilling their role of ensuring the safety of the workers under them. This is because the absence of two-communication prevents them from communicating with the employees and vice versa (McConnell, 2018).
Communication issues such as bias may prevent supervisors from influencing change or exercising their leadership role effectively within the healthcare facility (Schriver, Cubaka, Nyirazinyoye, Itangishaka & Kallestrup, 2017). This implication on supervisors can either be attributed to employees’ bias or bias by the supervisors themselves. For instance, if a supervisor is racially biased, they may not engage in the effective delegation of duties with healthcare providers from a different race than theirs, which may prevent them from influencing change or exercising their leadership role effectively. Similarly, when those receiving supervisions are biased against their supervisor, they may not pay attention to what they are told, preventing the supervisors from relaying their directives or delegation of duties. Therefore communication issues such as bias can prevent the reception by healthcare providers and delivery of messages by supervisors, thus preventing supervisors from playing the role of supervising.
Communication issues can also cost supervisors their jobs or positions in healthcare facilities. This is because communication issues result in communication barriers, which may prevent supervisors from relaying important messages to the healthcare workforce under their supervision. Healthcare supervisors are charged with the responsibility of ensuring the healthcare workforce adhere to safe work procedures and practices (McConnell, 2018). Failure to relay instructions and information on how the healthcare workforce can adhere to safe work procedures and practices owing to communication issues/ barriers can result in a supervisor being deemed incompetence. This may result in them being fired, thus an indication that communication issues can negatively affect healthcare supervisors.
Communication issues such as lack of common experience may result in supervisors developing a superiority complex, which may undermine their ability to perform their duties. This is because developing a superiority complex can cause them to avoid forming any form of relationship with those they supervise as they may be deemed inferior to them. A lack of a good work-relationship between supervisors and those being supervised may be perceived as incompetence, not only among the employees but also among patients. Patients perceive the performance of their healthcare providers as the direct influence of those in supervisory positions. Therefore, if healthcare providers are incompetent owing to the incompetency of their supervisors, this may reflect negatively on the competency of supervisors.
Healthcare supervisors are responsible for sharing relevant health information with employees (McConnell, 2018). Failure to do so due to the development of a superiority complex can cause employees to deem their supervisors as incompetent. This can result in the supervisors receiving negative reviews on their performance, which may, in turn, cause them to be fired. Therefore, communication issues negatively influence how supervisors are perceived, therefore, putting their jobs and integrity at risk. Communication issues also have a negative effect on supervisors because they limit them from ensuring their facilities provide adequate and quality care to patients (McConnell, 2018). In the event, there are communication barriers or issues preventing supervisors from being able to motivate their workforce since it is part of their duty, the performance of such facilities is typically poor (Schriver, Cubaka, Nyirazinyoye, Itangishaka & Kallestrup, 2017).
Communication is important for any organization to perform as it should effectively. In the healthcare sector, the relationship between supervisors and those being supervised contributes highly, to the quality of healthcare provided to patients and their well-being. It is therefore important for there to be effective communication between such parties. However, there are various communication issues which prevent or limit the ability of supervisors to effectively carry out their duties. The communication issues such as bias, lack of provision of feedback, lack of attention, poor effective relationship building, and lack of common experience result in poor performance of the role of supervision. This in turn negatively influences their ability to influence change, provide directives, as well as relay important information to the workforce. Overall, communication issues have a negative effect on supervisors as sometimes it jeopardizes their integrity, limiting or preventing them from effectively and properly executing their duties. This is with regard to the vital role they play in influencing the quality of healthcare services provided within healthcare facilities.
References
Hanh, T. N. (2013). The art of communicating . Random House.
Hargie, O., Dickson, D., & Tourish, D. (2014). Communication Skills for Effective Management . Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
McConnell, C. R. (2018). The effective health care supervisor . Jones & Bartlett Learning.
O'Toole, G. (2012). Communication: Core Interpersonal Skills for Health Professionals .
Schriver, M., Cubaka, V. K., Nyirazinyoye, L., Itangishaka, S., & Kallestrup, P. (2017). The relationship between primary healthcare providers and their external supervisors in Rwanda. African journal of primary health care & family medicine , 9 (1), 1-11.
