In the third clip, Dr. Forman and Dr. Cameron showed us bad communication skills in their interaction with each other. You can see from the video that Dr. Forman does not have a good relationship with Dr. Cameron because she is surprised to see Dr. Forman there. Both doctors are also not listening to each other and they are both showing great aggression towards each other. You can also see that he is being sarcastic and she is angry by the tone of their voice. Dr Forman also uses vulgar language which promotes bad relationship. He is also not respecting her and is also degrading her authority. Through his body language and his facials expressions you can see the negativity and scorn towards Dr. Cameron. Both facial expressions on the doctors were negative. Dr. Cameron showed a lot of attitude, disgust, and confusion. Dr. Forman showed sarcasm and had a lot of negativity in his body language and his facial expression. He smiles with sarcasm and also raises his eyebrows and opens his eyes bigger. Dr. Forman was sitting in a position where it seemed as if he didn't care. He was slouching to one side and also used his arms to show us his feelings.
One key element to a good relationship is listening. “Probably no other skills are more valuable in developing trust than listening and empathic responding.” (Berger pg. 49) Listening is also very important in the medical world because if someone doesn't listen a patient's life could be at stake. There is a process to listening. It is “will attention (Bracketing)Listening empathic responding trust further exploration of thoughts and feelings.” (Berger pg. 51) The two doctors in the two video did not follow this process at all. Their conversation was very hasty and they were not paying attention to what they had to say. There was also no empathic response from both doctors instead it was very aggressive. They had no trust among each other because Dr. Forman said that he was a neurologist and didn't care what Dr. Cameron thought the patient had.
Instead of talking out the situation Dr. Forman just left which gave him no time to look into the problem. Without listening nothing can be done right. If doctors or patients did not listen to each other the doctors wouldn't know what the problem is and can diagnose the procedure or even cause the patient to die. If the patient didn't listen then the patient can take something serious as a joke or not take their medicines properly. If two doctors didn't listen to each other because of their bad relationship or because they had no time they can cause great danger for the patient because there would be miscommunication.
Anger is another emotion that was displayed in this conversation. We also have to understand that the anger being expressed is a mask to the feeling of inferiority and a matter of pride. Dr. Forman was mad that Dr. Cameron took one of his patients. When anger is expressed inappropriately like the doctors expressed themselves the problem doesn't really get solved. It can also cause more problems if they are yelling at each other because both parties do not address the problem, but they are defending themselves. According to the book “Communication Skills for Pharmacists” appropriate way to express anger is by showing respect which both doctors did not do. Instead Dr. Forman used vulgar language and belittled Dr. Cameron.
Through their anger they performed bad conflict management skills. This conflict was caused by incompatible goals. According to Robert M Arnold, the doctors acted this way because they failed to properly learn and competently perform their duties. Dr. Cameron saw that as a doctor her duty was to help Dr. Forman's interns when they came to when Dr. Forman wasn't there. Yet Dr. Forman's goals were that even in an emergency case Dr. Cameron should not help his interns or his patients because he should be the one to make the judgment. Instead of arguing and trying to get back at Dr. Cameron, Dr. Forman should have sat down with her and tried to solve the problem instead of trying to dominate. This case was a lose-lose situation for both doctors are mad and created a bad relationship. This also demonstrates the ignorance of properly implementing the necessary communication skills to rectify the problem (Arnold pg. 189).
Assertiveness is another quality of good communication skills which Dr. Forman did not have. He was being very aggressive by not respecting her. He felt as if he was a better doctor with more knowledge. He was also criticizing and name calling Dr. Cameron for her decisions in helping his patient. He also thought what Dr Cameron was diagnosing her patients wrongly. Dr. Cameron was being assertive by believing in what she thought the patient had, but because she was not willing to listen to Dr. Forman's opinion and did not respect him she was also being aggressive. The doctors also needed to be aware of their physical environment. By arguing in front of others, especially the patients, they do not allow their patients and coworkers to see them in a respectable manor. Due to the public nature of the environment, the patient is less likely to view them as adequate doctors and there is more of a chance that the patient will not adhere to the doctors' recommendations. And both doctors, regardless of who is right, will receive negative impact due to their destructive behaviors.
Thus we can see that interpersonal communication plays an ever-growing important role in the health care environment. The show House MD is an accurate representation of the interpersonal communication between healthcare professionals and their patients and between the healthcare professionals themselves. Although the way they handle things might not always be correct, they are depicting what it is like in the healthcare world. It is with the knowledge that we have gained; we can change how we interact with others. And by changing our fundamental attitude towards people, we also change how we are perceived by patients, professionals and the general public.
Experts agree that, doctor-patient communication is of great importance to health care because it represents the principal tool of information exchange to solve problems in health care, create therapeutic relationships and acts as a confidence building measure. In fact the Holy Roman emperor Fredrick the II called communication the “stupor mundi” or the wonder of the world (Adler pg. 4). This is why we have to learn about interpersonal communications so that we as soon-to-be pharmacists can fix the problems that occur in the healthcare world today.
