Communication is an essential key ingredient in today's medical field, as numerous professionals and patients strive to build a trusting and open relationship with each other. The main purpose is for one to build the kind of relationship that result in improved patient care and outcomes. Communication is so important that the German philosopher, Karl Jaspers, tells us that “Man's supreme achievement in the world is communication from personality to personality” (Bolton pg. 4)
Communication, listening and empathetic response skills, enables us to respond to patients (and others) in a caring and respectful manner - a powerful and integral part of building relationships. And thus, the communication skills a professional possesses can play a pivotal role in determining how information is exchanged, how confidence is build, optimized patient care through appropriate drug therapy and how these relations are developed. This is the core ideals of Pharmaceutical Care, and in our presentation, the corner stone of Doctor-Patient relations.
Usually, we learn and strive towards the perfect - towards the standards of communication and care. However, in our speech presentation we tackled issues on these types of miscommunications through the hit television series House M.D in an effort to teach the importance of inter-personal communication through the mistakes and failures of others. The T.V. show, House M.D., is a medical drama T.V. show that deals with bizarre medical cases and how Doctor Greg House and his team of doctors and interns portray the flaws of health care providers through their interaction with each other and the patients being treated. We saw clips of the show and analyzed each clip that dealt with patient-doctor relationship, patient's relative-doctor relationship and doctor-doctor relationship. Afterwards, we made skits that showed how these scenes can turn into a win-win situation instead of a win-lose or lose-lose situation. A win-win strategy is problem-solving.
Problem solving, as stated by Bruce A. Berger, “is characterized by both parties agreeing to an outcome that is acceptable” (Berger 104). As analysts, we discussed the 5 steps in problem solving and used that to improvise our skits. The first step is to identify the problem. As a team, we learned that the problem is that they lacked the necessary skills for interpersonal communication. The next step is to identify all possible solutions. By doing this, we led ourselves to step three, which is to decide what the most beneficial solution is. After deciding which the best solution is, we had to figure out the best possible method of implementing the solution. The last step in problem solving is assessing the outcome. As a group, we decided if the road we took in problem solving was the efficient way for improvising the clips through our skits.
Throughout our presentation, we strived to show the problems that arose in the professional interactions and how the doctors addressed the problem and how that situation can be remedied using the skills involved in interpersonal communication and problem solving. In the first clip, a race car driver has arrived at the hospital. Dr. House is not present, and she is left to the care of Dr. Foreman and his team. As seen in the clip, the patient becomes upset and angry for a number of reasons. She has not been properly diagnosed and is becoming frustrated when the treatments do not work. Dr. Foreman also failed to properly address the patient's concerns about the therapy and did not explain the medical terminology. These events make it difficult for the patient and Dr. Foreman to establish trust and a therapeutic relationship.
The patient becomes quite angry when she realizes that the doctors do not know what to do for her. As we have learned, Anger is a secondary emotion. In this case, anger could be a response to the fear or uncertainty that the patient is feeling. She may be afraid because she believes the doctors cannot help her and that she may not get better. Her anger caused her to act out in demanding to see Dr. House and taking off the I.V. cords. While her expression of anger was unsuitable, it is important for the doctor to show a correct response. As we learned, it is important to provide the best care to our patients no matter what the situation is. Dr. Foreman should remain calm and separate himself from her outbursts of frustrations. It is necessary to demonstrate empathy to the patient and listen to their concerns.
Dr. Foreman should have taken the time to explain the medical terms and treatment to his patient. Many people do not ask questions when they are unsure or confused. They are afraid to appear as unintelligent, especially around authority figures. Dr. Foreman should be able to pick up on this and take the time to explain her condition. In doing so, the patient would be more educated. By realizing that Dr. Foreman was a figure she could trust, she would feel more comfortable to ask more questions. The patient would recognize Dr. Foreman as someone who wants to do what is best for her and someone she could confide in. This results in a relationship between doctor and patient, and therefore more adherences to treatment and procedures.
