Effective communication and interpersonal interaction in health and social care
Communication is the exchanging of information by speaking, writing or using some other medium. Using phones, emails and social media is another way of communicating. Communication skills are important, effective communication allows individuals to more clearly express themselves. Effective communication is central to all work in health and social care. It is essential for practitioners working in social work, nursing, occupational therapy and any other profession to do with the health sector. You need good communication in order to understand the service user’s problems and to gain a good relationship with them. Good communication skills will help others feel valued, appreciated, and listened to not just with the service users but with work colleagues too.
Informal: Informal communication is a casual conversation you would have with your family or friends or just a personal conversation with somebody you know. An informal conversation could take place outside work and organizations. Working in a health and social care environment provides lots of opportunities to have informal communication, including short conversations and chats. An informal conversation could take place in a social workers office, with two colleagues having a quick short chat about a child’s needs and plans. An advantage of informal is it keeps the conversation short and efficient and gets your point across in a fast way with not much discussion. A disadvantage of an informal chat is mistakes could be made in work as this sort of communication can be subject to errors because no official rules or regulations is taking place in informal communication.
Between colleagues: Communication between colleagues is important within a health and social care setting, because lack of tolerance for your fellow employees might