A Better Patient Experience Through Better Communication

Abstract

The transformation of healthcare from a seller's market to a consumer's market has pushed the element of patient satisfaction into the forefront of various medical facility evaluation tools, including those used by Medicare when weighing reimbursement to hospitals for patient care. Research has identified good communication skills to be a key factor in ensuring better patient outcomes, and nurturing patient satisfaction. Because of the growing amount of money at stake for patients' satisfaction with a facility, the communication skills of individual healthcare providers are bound to impact their employees' reimbursement, bonuses, and promotion options. Although the dangers of "poor communication," are evident: "poor communication" is a primary reason for filing a law suit in >80% of cases (Avery, 1985). Identifying the characteristics of "good communication" has been difficult. One factor that adds to the confusion is that research has found some long accepted codes of professional communication protocol to actually be counterproductive. Another factor that adds to the uncertainty is that accurate interpretations of some communication events are counterintuitive. Fortunately it has been possible to extract observable, proven, and teachable "good communication" behaviors from large-scale trials in the radiology department. The resultant Comfort Talk™ approach to communication includes rapid rapport techniques, patient-centered talking styles, and use of hypnotic language. This article overviews some of the Comfort Talk™ approaches to patients interaction and provides operational summaries of a sampling of specific Comfort Talk™ communication techniques, which nurses, technologists, and other healthcare workers can implement in their own practices.

Keywords: Anxiety; Comfort Talk™; Communication; Pain; Satisfaction.