Explain the role of effective communication and interpersonal interaction in a health and social care context

According to (Business Jargons, 2017) effective communication is a communication between two or more persons where the intended message is successfully delivered, received and understood. Which is very important in a health and social care setting as there is going to be many service users that need to communicate with the service provider for vital information that could be a serious situation depending on the setting. For example, in a care home if there is a service user that has to have their medicine at a certain time and it gets given at the wrong time it could make the service user sick all down to the message not being received or understood correctly. Every profession in health and social care requires good communication skills as well as listening skills as there will be people that come from different backgrounds and are different races. In order for the service to be successful there needs to be an acceptance for the variety of different people that may have divergent beliefs, which links to interpersonal interaction which is relating communications or relationships between people. In this information booklet is going to summarise the different ways to communicate and how they can be used in a health and social care setting and the effects of using them.P1 – Explain the role of effective communication and interpersonal interaction in a health and social care context.SpeechThere are many different types of interpersonal interactions such as speech, language and non-verbal. Speech is a verbal type of communication; it is a way to express the way you are feeling or thoughts you have by sounds.LanguageLanguage has many categories such as slang, jargon and dialect. Slang is the shortening of words like shortening the words it is to it’s, or cannot too can’t, this may be an issue in a health and social care setting as if you are working with people that are not familiar with slang, they may become confused and misunderstand the information given. Jargon are words that are related to the profession that the service provider is working in. For example, when a service user attends the doctors and the doctor is giving you a diagnosis, there may be misunderstood information received as the words they have used are not “everyday” words but related to their profession. Then dialect is a form of language that is specific to a social group of regions, an example of this is the Jamaican saying “wagwran” which simply means how are you or what’s up. Your first language can also be referred to as your “mothers’ tongue” which means it was the first language you spoke. So even if you lived in the UK and learned to speak English, you spoke Spanish first making Spanish your mothers’ tongue. Non-verbal Then non-verbal is communication without using words to express your thoughts, some examples of non-verbal communication are facial expressions, posture and proximity. Posture is the way you present yourself when interacting with another being. Facial expressions are when gestures are made with the muscles in the face to match the emotions being presented. One to one communicationAccording to (the free dictionary,2019) one to one communication is consisting of having direct communication between two people. This would be important in a health and social care setting as someone may be suffering with health problems, they may need to have a one to one conversation with the doctor about their condition. Group communicationGroup communication is a conversation with more than two people. Group communication is important as it lets people hear and judge opinions and decisions so that there isn’t one person making the decision. It is helpful as you can hear many other people’s ideas to come to a conclusion to the discussion. This could occur in a health and social care setting when a social worker is in a meeting with a family and there are multiple people in that meeting having a group discussion about the issues with the family.FormalGroup communication can be spoken in a formal manner, most of them time this communication is needed in health and social care settings such as hospitals and dental hospitals where serious situations are dealt with. Doctors, nurses and orthodontists would not use slang as it wouldn’t appear professional and would most likely use jargon. Formal communication is also helpful to use as it appears to be more polite and kind which is vital in health and social care setting as you could be dealing with sensitive information. Usually formal communication is also spoken slowly and carries a lot of information which id important so it doesn’t leave the service user feeling shaken and confused if the service provider was to talk too fast. However, using too much formal language may leave the service user confused as they would recognise that nobody speaks in a formal manner all the time.InformalGroup communication can also be spoken in an informal manner, usually this is around family, friends or people you are comfortable with. So, for example if you with your friends you may use “slang” that you wouldn’t use when talking to a teacher at school and its simply because you don’t share the same bond with them. Or many specific places may have different accents or say things differently and there could be misunderstanding as it’s something you’re not familiar with. In a health and social care setting you may use informal communication when working with nursery or primary children as they would have difficulty communicating back with you as they may not understand. However, using too much informal language people will not take you seriously or may get annoyed as you may be “swearing” and colleagues may not appreciate that.Between colleaguesThis type of communication means that you would be communicating with people you work with or along side to. The different types of ways you may communicate with them is verbally by one to one communication or non-verbally so by emails or phone calls. It is important to talk to colleagues with respect so that it doesn’t give the service a bad reputation. With colleagues you have to listen and retain information from them as it could be important information however as you have displayed good listening skills, they will return this respect back to you.Between people using services………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Forms of communicationThere are many ways to communicate with others WrittenWritten communication is a type of communication that is presented as a written symbol such as letters, this form of communication can be seen in letters whether they are handwritten or printed. An example of this occurring in a health and social care setting is when a service user is at the doctors and they ask for your details such as name, age, address etc. Usually this information is written down first which can be used as “hard” evidence because of handwriting and then typed into a document for extra precaution so that the information cannot be forged. Another example of this happening in a health and social care setting is when there is previous information about a patient when a new serviced provider comes to care Oral Oral communication is a type of communication that is displayed by expressing ideas through the mouth. An example of communicating orally in a health and social care setting is in a school setting when a teacher is explaining to the class about what they need to complete for homework, this is helpful as there is a clear discussion between the group. Communicating orally is also beneficial in a health and social care as there are facial expressions and body languages to support your idea whereas if it was not face to face it would be very difficult to fully understand the concept of their idea. It is also an easier way to gain a proper connection, learn and understand things about that individual, this could happen in a health and social care setting such as a care home where elders make friends with each other.Signing and symbolsSigning is an important type of communication that is usually used for people that have difficulty hearing or are deaf. This communication type can also be used for individuals that have speech difficulties and it can be their way to communicate with others. Signing could be presented in a health and social care setting such as in a primary school with kids that have additional needs such as down syndrome. Its beneficial as it helps them to communicate with other kids around them, members of staff or their parents, so that they will not feel left out or “different” as they cannot communicate in the most common way (orally).