3 steps to mastering the art of patient communication

Follow 3 simple steps to ensure you and your patients are speaking the same language.

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Effective communication has long been one of the most important skills you can possess in healthcare. In today’s patient-centric healthcare environment, these skills have never been more challenging to practice—or more important to master.

According to the Institute for Healthcare Communication, studies show a strong correlation between the communication skills of a healthcare team and a patient’s ability to follow medical instructions, self manage a chronic disease and practice recommended health behaviors.¹

In fact, certain communication competencies can have a profound impact on patient experience, satisfaction and even clinical outcomes.¹

Insider insight: Communication skills patients value most²

1

Empathy

2

An open mind

3

Compassion

4

Willingness to ask questions and initiate conversations

5

Careful listening

6

Friendliness

7

Showing genuine interest in them

8

Attentiveness

9

Investing time and effort to educate them and make sure they understand the illness

Contributors

Roberto Benzo, MD, MSc

Motivational-Based Health Coach

Vernon Pertelle, RRT

President and CEO of StratiHealth

Management Consultant for ACOs

Chikita Mann, MSN, RN, CCM

Disability RN Case Manager Supervisor

Genex Services, LLC for the State of Georgia

The COPD foundation can help you start the conversation with your patients

Learn more

Go beyond clinical aspects of care to have a rich, productive conversation with your patients. You’ll find out what gives their lives meaning, which can help you co-create a more personalized treatment plan.”

Vernon Pertelle, RRT

President and CEO of StratiHealth

Management Consultant for ACOs

3 steps you can start implementing today to maintain open lines of communication with the patients you serve

Step 1
Step 1
Step 1. Seek first to understand: Communicate to appreciate

There are multiple reasons that patients may be unable to articulate what it’s like to live with a chronic condition like COPD. But one thing is certain: Gaining an appreciation for the patient experience requires skillful communication, beginning with the most overlooked skill of all—listening.

Practice active listening^3-6

While there are many types of listening, active listening is considered to be one of the most effective in healthcare and is associated with a specific set of behaviors.

Give the patient your undivided attention

Listen for content, intent and what the patient might be feeling

Show interest verbally with questions and non-verbally with visual cues, signifying that the patient has something important to say

Interrupt only to gain clarity

Use appropriate body movement and posture showing involvement, facial expressions and eye contact

Encourage patients to open up

The Gold Foundation conducted a survey among patients posing this simple question:

“How could a healthcare provider or care team member encourage you to speak up about your needs?”⁷

Here’s what patients revealed would help them feel more comfortable opening up to their physicians:

Make eye contact

Don’t judge

Ask probing, open-ended questions

Listen to the their answers without interrupting, and ask more follow-up questions when the answers are vague

Listen with empathy, being fully present for their emotional perspective and experiences

Slow down and leave enough time for them to ask questions or express concerns

Help patients ask questions they may not feel comfortable articulating during the appointment
Step 2
Step 2
Step 2. Seek to be understood: Communicate to educate

“Education plays a major role in the treatment and management of COPD,” says Chikita Mann, MSN, RN, CCM, Disability RN Case Manager Supervisor at Genex Services, LLC for the State of Georgia.

“It is a comprehensive, coordinated effort that not only requires effective communication with patients and families, but also among members of the multidisciplinary care team.” Mann goes on to explain the importance of achieving total alignment among team members. “Every discipline must be sure to communicate clearly and effectively to address the needs of the whole patient and help ease the transition from hospital to home. “

But Mann points out that no matter how skilled and dedicated the care team may be, a patient’s poor health literacy can undermine education efforts. “Too often we assume that the patient understands everything we’ve taught, but the truth is, if the patient isn’t comprehending what we’re communicating, we have failed to assess the health literacy of that patient.”

Health literacy defined^8,9

Health literacy is defined as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.

The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies reports^8,9:

Half of all Americans have trouble understanding and using health information

Patients with limited health literacy are hospitalized more often and use emergency services more frequently

Mind the communication gap¹⁰

According to the National Adult Literacy Survey, an estimated 30 million adults have "below basic" literacy skills

Healthcare providers typically rank high in literacy skills, which can create the possibility for a communication gap

Developing strategies to improve communication between provider and patients with limited health literacy may help increase understanding and improve outcomes.”

Chikita Mann, MSN, RN, CCM

Disability RN Case Manager Supervisor

Genex Services, LLC for the State of Georgia

Insider insight: Patients with certain chronic conditions benefit from a higher level of empowerment than others

According to Emil Chiauzzi, author and originator of an online survey to measure factors of patient empowerment, “[patients with] conditions with greater stigma, such as COPD” might see less empowerment than those with conditions that might be more recognized and/or accepted, such as Parkinson’s disease.¹¹
Step 3
Step 3
Step 3: Empower the patient: Communicate to motivate

There are few communication tools that support patient empowerment like those of motivational interviewing.

Roberto Benzo, MD, MSc, and expert in motivational interviewing explains, “There are two key characteristics of motivational interviewing: acceptance and compassion.”

“Acceptance,” explains Benzo, “refers to our response to the patient as a person who is competent rather than someone who needs to be rescued or is incapable of making health decisions. Compassion, on the other hand, is not what one ‘does to someone’ in order to achieve some goal set forth by the healthcare provider. Rather, it’s about opening your heart and your mind to the patient.”

Emil Chiauzzi emphasizes that empowerment achieved through behavioral change is based on the following principles:

Affirm that the person is responsible for and in control of daily self-management

Educate patients to promote informed decision-making rather than adherence/compliance

Learn to set behavioral goals so that patients can make changes of their own choice

Integrate clinical, psychosocial and behavioral aspects of self-management

Affirm the participants as experts on their own learning needs

Affirm the ability of participants to determine an approach to self-management that will work for them

Affirm the innate capacity of patients to identify and solve their own problems

Respect cultural, ethnic and religious beliefs of the target population

Create opportunities for social support

Provide ongoing self-management support

The model of Dowling et al. presents a different focus with empowerment¹¹

Communication skills can help you educate and empower your patients as well as help you become a better listener. And that makes everyone feel better.

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References

^1.Impact of Communication in Healthcare. Institute for Healthcare Communication website. http://healthcarecomm.org/about-us/impact-of-communication-in-healthcare/. Published July 2011. Accessed April 19, 2018.

^2.Six physician strategies to increase patient engagement. Envision Physician Services website. http://sheridanhealthcare.com/news-events/blog/six-communication-strategies-increase-patient-engagement-improve-outcome. Published August 15, 2016. Accessed April 19, 2018.

^3.Jahromi VK, Tabatabaee SS, Abdar ZE, Rajabi M. Active listening: The key of successful communication in hospital managers. Electron Physician. 2016;8(3):2123-2128.

^4.Tayal SC, Michelson K, Tayal NH. Listening with empathy. AMA Steps Forward website. https://www.stepsforward.org/modules/empathetic-listening. Accessed April 23, 2018.

^5.Hirsch L. Patient Experience and the Lost Art of Listening. Patient Experience website. http://patientexperience.com/patient-experience-lost-art-listening/. Published August 4, 2015. Accessed April 20, 2018.

^6.Berry RLAALL. Making Time to Really Listen to Your Patients. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2017/10/making-time-to-really-listen-to-your-patients. Published October 9, 2017. Accessed April 26, 2018.

^7.Dinardo P. How healthcare professionals can encourage patients to speak. Gold Foundation website. http://www.gold-foundation.org/newsroom/blog/healthcare-professionals-can-encourage-patients-speak/. Published November 25, 2014. Accessed April 23, 2018.

^8.Nielsen-Bohlman L, Panzer AM, Kindig DA. Executive Summary. In: Nielsen-Bohlman L, Panzer AM, Kindig DA, eds. Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2004.

^9.Omachi TA, Sarkar U, Yelin EH, Blanc PD, Katz PP. Lower health literacy is associated with poorer health status and outcomes in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. J Gen Intern Med. 2013;28(1):74-81.

^10.Disler R, Appleton J, Smith T, et al. Empowerment in people with COPD. Patient Intell. 2015;2016(8):7-20.

^11.Chiauzzi E, DasMahapatra P, Cochin E, Bunce M, Khoury R, Dave P. Factors in patient empowerment: a survey of an online patient research network. Patient. 2016;9(6):511-523.

All content on this site is for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice of your doctor or other health care professional. Always seek the advice of your physician or other health care provider with any questions you may have about any medical condition. Refer to the Terms of Use for additional information.

3 steps to mastering the art of patient communication

Share this story

Insider insight: Communication skills patients value most2

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Contributors

Roberto Benzo, MD, MSc

Vernon Pertelle, RRT

Chikita Mann, MSN, RN, CCM

The COPD foundation can help you start the conversation with your patients

3 steps you can start implementing today to maintain open lines of communication with the patients you serve

Step 1. Seek first to understand: Communicate to appreciate

Practice active listening3-6

Encourage patients to open up

Step 2. Seek to be understood: Communicate to educate

Health literacy defined8,9

Insider insight: Patients with certain chronic conditions benefit from a higher level of empowerment than others

Step 3: Empower the patient: Communicate to motivate

Emil Chiauzzi emphasizes that empowerment achieved through behavioral change is based on the following principles: