Tips for avoiding communication problems in the hospital

March 30, 2009

As hospital staffs become more diverse, cross-cultural and cross-gender communication snafus are common, according to Janet H. Moore, a trainer and executive coach based in Houston.

“Even if the surgeon understood these comments as jokes from his perspective, maybe they didn’t come across to anyone else, particularly the plaintiff, as a joke,” she said.

“Hospitals can help themselves by doing advanced and consistent communications training, which will help them avoid problems among their staff, but also problems between their staff and their patients,” she said.

If a senior physician is offending staff members by insensitive remarks, Moore suggests that the hospital provide a combination of communications training and one-on-one coaching.

“Their communication style has been engrained over time,” Moore said. “First, you’ve got to bring awareness to them of how they’re coming across, and then you can begin to change their communication style.”

– Nora Lockwood Tooher

[Print] [Email] [del.icio.us] [Digg] [Facebook] [Furl] [Reddit] [StumbleUpon]


Comments

One Response to “Tips for avoiding communication problems in the hospital”

  1. Surgeon wins $1.6 million sex bias verdict : Mass Medical Law Report on March 30th, 2009 9:55 pm

    [...] Click here to read a related article, “Tips for avoiding communication problems in the hospital.” [...]

Got something to say?





Bottom