Types of Communication

00:06 Communication is one of the things that I talk about in terms of cultural values, preferences, and how it impacts the way we communicate. So the first thing I want to talk about in terms of communication is that there are 3 types; usually passive, assertive, and aggressive. So, when we think about communication in terms of cultural values and cultural values preferences, it's either low context direct which emphasizes explicit communication based on those words and sometimes people say "Well, I'm just a direct communicator" and they use that as an excuse to be rude. Absolutely that's not what it's supposed to be. When we think about direct communication in this context, we want to think about making sure it's assertive communication and that the message does intend it to be delivered as the message that's delivered. And when I think about that from a healthcare perspective, when I teach a patient or a family or talk about what's going on in terms of their disease processes or health issues and conditions, I do want to make sure that I'm explicit. I don't want to be rude, it means I want to be clear. I want to make sure that what I'm trying to communicate to the patient is what they heard.

01:20 So how do I do that? I want to ask some questions. And that's a direct communication between the provider or the clinician, whichever word we want to apply here, to the patient or the family or the community however we want to look at it from a visual standpoint, from a small to a low arch we have to make sure that whatever we communicate is explicit. Then the other value that goes along with that is high context indirect. So it emphasizes indirect communication, tone, and context. One way I like to look at it is the game of telephone. So you have to be really careful in terms of that because you want to make sure especially in terms of patient care and given a plan when a patient is leaving that they understand or the family whoever you're communicating with understands exactly what you want them to do because I've seen too many times even in my own family well what do they say "I don't know." You know they attack you back was very important that you as the healthcare professional make sure they do know so that mistakes don't happen especially once they're out of your sight, out of your care.

02:33 In terms of an organizational perspective, sometimes if we don't understand and we don’t ask for clarification, again, mistakes can happen. Why do people avoid asking questions sometimes that intimidation? So I want to go back to courage.

02:49 You have to make sure especially in the space of your learning or in the space of taking care of patients or as an employee, you have to make sure that you're clear on what the expectations are.