Health and Social care involves a lot of formal communication

There are many types of communication; one to one, communication within a group, formal / informal, text, visual, music and drama, arts and crafts and the use of technological aids also interpersonal interaction including non-verbal, verbal, variations between cultures and listening & reflecting back; of which are all used within our society. Communication within any health and social care setting is vital and ensures that a patient and healthcare professional understand each other clearly therefore the patient will receive the best possible care.

One-to-one in communication is when two individuals communicate with one another. It takes an important role in almost everyone’s life. One to one communication most often occurs during face to face conversations in telephone speech and through technology. It is important that when you are taking part in a conversation that you send and receive exact messages. It is important that you choose words that you know your receiver will understand. Your word choice should mainly depend on who your listener is and their ability.

It is important that you consider the listener’s age and experience when communicating. For example, if providing care to a patient, it can be made very difficult if the patient’s needs are not clearly be clearly specified. Communication eases anxiety of the patient and is vital to reassure them; more over it can also boost an individual’s self-esteem and advantage their personal well-being. Group communication takes place between a small or even large group of people, it can be complex or even simple; this is influenced by the amount of individuals involved.

The conversation could be about an issue, idea or complication that is being either argued or agreed upon. If conversing in a large group there is the likelihood that people may become a distraction and start their own conversation with another individual. Group communication takes place every day in different situations, in relation to health and social care, at a nursery, teachers will need to have staff meetings and discuss progress or problems within their group.

It is important that all of the staff understand the points made so that any pupils that are falling behind or who are struggling to do things that a majority of the rest of the class are doing, they can be focused on and it can be investigated whether there are any problems with the child. It is important that every child’s needs are met. Health and Social care involves a lot of formal communication. It can take place between two or more individuals. It is when people use the rules of language in a conversation or in writing format.

In a conversation, it would be more likely for you to use formal communication when in an interview or writing a letter to a business or maybe work. Formal communication a lot of the time maintains authority throughout and involves a verity of non-verbal and verbal communication. In many situations if you are not spoken to formally in a formal situation, like going to the doctors, it could make an individual feel as if they are not being taken seriously or even not being respected. On the other hand, informal communication is normally held between friends and family or people that we know well.

The people stated may often use dialect that many other individuals do not understand due to them changing words or expressions. People from different areas have their own ways of pronunciation and words altogether and if someone from the same group of people was greeted by this, they would take the greeting as friendly and respect it, however if someone from a different group of people or from a different area was greeted by this, they may find it hard to understand, rude or even just as if they shouldn’t try to fit in.

This is important in relation to health and social care as a professional; because in a hospital, if it was your job to pass on the bad news that a member of someone’s family had passed away, you would have to say it in the correct way and be as respectful as possible. Text messaging is the act of typing and sending a brief, electronic message between two or more mobile phones. While texting was once referred as for sending short messages it is now possible that you include images, videos, and sound content.

Due to the use of things such as acronyms and ‘txt’ speak, it is possible that messages that need to be transferred can get confused along the way. In relation to health and social care, it is important that if you were passing a message on to one of your colleges about what time they needed to be at work and or why they shouldn’t come into work, it should clearly be explained. Types of interpersonal communication

Non-verbal communication accounts for approximately 70% of communication, it means without the use of words and sending messages with things such as our eyes, tone of voice, facial expressions, gestures, body posture and even the tension throughout our body. Usually within the first few seconds of meeting another individual, it is possible to work out how they are feeling due to these factors, basically just by studying their non-verbal communication. Whether we make eye contact with another individual can determine whether we have any interest in the situation in hand.

The posture we hold can show whether we are paying attention, out mood and again the amount of interest we have, gestures and facial expressions can often do the same job. Very often as individuals we take for granted the ability that we hold to read the above factors, it is extremely important that we accurately interpret these so that we can effectively manage both our own emotions and those of others. Touch within communication can be used to soothe, comfort or even create a therapeutic bond; however it is important that it is used cautiously as it can also be seen as intrusive.

An example of the importance of non-verbal communication is in a profession such as nursing. It would be that as a nurse it means that very often you are preoccupied with demands and activities throughout the day. As a result of this, it is possible that you may appear distressed when listening to a client or you may even portray that you are feeling stressed through your non-verbal communication. As a nurse it is important that you show a positive and genuine interest towards a client, this will make a client fell at ease.

Verbal is spoken communication; it involves not only what you say but also how you say it, like factors such as tone, pitch, volume, open and closed question, clarity, encouragement etc. Verbal communication is the fastest way to interact with one another. As a health care professional it is important that it is made clear to the client what is taking place. For example, If a nurse walked into a client’s room and started undressing them without saying a word, it is expected that they might hit you or lash out in distress because they would not understand why they are being undressed.

It is important that you clearly announce yourself and what is about to happen; “Hello Mr Smith, it’s me Shelly, I’m here to give you a bath, is that alright with you? ” The way we verbally communicate with people can often change depending on the people that we are communicating with, for example, if communicating with close family the language and the way we communicate with them would differ to if we were to communicate with an individual that we were not so familiar with. It is important that in a profession, we remember to communicate in the right way.

The key to receiving messages effectively is listening. Listening isn’t only hearing what other individuals say; it is also psychological involvement with the person who is talking. Listening means more than just hearing words; it requires the want of one to understand another human being and the willingness to open their mind to try and see things from another person’s point of view. For true listening to take place it is important that we do not judge or evaluate to understand another person’s emotions and attitudes.

By reflecting back to the speaker what we believe we understand, we make that individual feel valued by giving them the experience of being heard and acknowledged. A good example of this would be working in a care home, it is important that an individual who is in a care home is made to feel valued, and feel as if they are not worthless, communicating with them will do the opposite of this and allow them to feel acknowledged. Argyle believed that communication is a small cycle that involves six simple stages, aiming, encoding, transmitting, receiving, decoding and responding.

He was certain that for any conversation or form of communication to take place, it involves his theory. He believed that interpersonal communication was a skill that could be learnt and developed, “like driving a car”. He said, they both require the need to change your behaviour depending on the circumstances, a constant cycle of what is happening, working out how to respond, responding and repeating until the destination is reached. Tuckman believed that in groups communication can be influenced by how people feel around each other.

Tuckman said that most groups go through four stages in interaction; Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing. The first stage, Forming, is the stage where members get to know each other and become friendly, however they do not know each other well enough to trust each other. Time is spent planning, collecting information and bonding. The next stage is Storming where the group starts to share different ideas and this may destructive within the group. Relationships between group members will be made or broken in this stage.

In extreme cases the team can become stuck in the Storming phase. The Norming stage where the group agree on rules and values in the way they operate. In the ideal situation the group begin to trust themselves during this stage as they accept the contribution of the other members of the team. Not all groups make it to the performing stage, the time of high performance. Performing teams show a lot of high levels of independence, motivation and knowledge.