Effective Communication and Health Literacy for Orientation

Question: Discuss about theEffective Communication and Health Literacy for Orientation. Answer: Topic: The importance of effective communication and health literacy in a culturally safe healthcare environment Target audience: An orientation session for new staff in the workplace. Type of interaction with the audience: During the presentation, both verbal and non-verbal cues will be used. Specifically, tonal variation and body language will be used. In the course of the presentation, the audience will be allowed to ask questions and offer contributions where necessary. In addition, examples will be used to ensure the audience understands the concepts that will be presented. The audience will also be asked to answer certain questions to make the presentation more interactive. The presentation will use existing literature and health models to enhance the understanding of the concepts. The REDE model will be used to illustrate the elements of effective communication. Further, the cultural practice program for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander will be used to discuss the importance of effective communication in a culturally safe environment. Nutbeam model of health literacy will be illustrated in the presentation and importance of health literacy in the culturally safe environment will be discussed. Effective communication is the process of sharing thoughts, information and feeling among individuals through speech, writing or body language. The presentation highlights the main elements of effective communication. Effective communication assists vulnerable patients to understand and make appropriate decisions about their treatment and care (Bramhall, 2014). Nevertheless, effective communication requires pertinent interpersonal skills, self-awareness, and awareness of others. In the past, communication has been viewed as a tool for healthcare providers alone. Patients and healthcare providers should understand and develop effective communication skills to facilitate and enhance the quality of healthcare. Further, the presentation discusses the barriers to effective communication in healthcare settings. Based on this view, patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals should overcome the barriers to effective communication. For patients and carers, the barriers to effective co mmunication are the lack of privacy, being weak, difficulty explaining feelings and blockage of communication cues by healthcare providers (Neese, 2015). On the other hand, the blocks to effective communication for medical professionals are inadequate time, high workload, lack of support, emotion barriers and distress (Bramhall, 2014). The patients and nurses should always adhere to the principles of effective communication. Communication is perceived as a transaction as well as message creation. The process of communication should ensure patient satisfaction and protect the health professional (Frenkel Cohen, 2014). Both the nurse and patient should understand that communication is unidirectional meaning that any of these parties can initiate the communication process. The use of certain technical terms might block the communication process because the patient can misinterpret technical terms (Kourkouta Papathanasiou, 2014). The REDE model can be used to achieve effective communication in a healthcare setting. Primarily, the REDE model promotes relationship-centred communication to improve the quality of care. This model optimises personal connections is several stages of relationship including establishment, development, and engagement (Windover, Boissy, Rice, Gilligan, Velez, Merlino, 2014). The presentation discusses these elements of REDE model. Establishing a relationship This stage proposes the creation of an enabling and supportive environment where there are collaboration and trust. Healthcare professionals should focus on building an emotional bank with their patients and carers. Respect should be promoted in this phase because it is the first encounter. Healthcare professionals should set the design of care collaboratively even though it might be time-consuming. They should also introduce electronic health record to enhance patient care. Lastly, the provider should demonstrate empathy, which is the capacity to acknowledge and understand the situation of others (Windover, Boissy, Rice, Gilligan, Velez, Merlino, 2014). Developing the relationship After the initial step, the relationship continues evolving and growing. Healthcare professionals should attempt to know the patient and understand their critical signs in a biopsychosocial context. They should listen reflectively as the patient narrates their feelings and thoughts. In this case, the nurse should attempt to obtain the history of present illness (HPI). The importance of provider-patient communication has been extensively documented in the recent literature (Cheng, Bridges, Yiu, McGrath, 2015). Engaging the relationship The main elements of this stage are patient education and treatment. As the healthcare professional continues to offer treatment, they should also enhance the patients knowledge. Education aims to obtain consent, enhance patient self-efficacy, treatment adherence and self-care of chronic health conditions (Windover, Boissy, Rice, Gilligan, Velez, Merlino, 2014). The healthcare professional should share the diagnosis with the patient, involve the patient in designing a treatment plan, and dialogue throughout the process of delivering care. The presentation will further discuss the meaning of effective communication and its significance in healthcare. Effective communication in a culturally safe environment is very important. Recent studies have found that good communication improves patients emotional health as well as symptoms resolution (Leonard, 2017). In addition, effective communication enhances several physiological measures including like blood pressure and reduces reported pain. Effective communication increases the chances of developing a mutually positive and advantageous relationship between the healthcare provider and the patient. Additionally, effective communication increases the level of confidence and self-empowerment for the patient because they understand their diagnosis and treatment. In most instances, communication reduces the issues of misunderstanding and errors linked to diagnosis, treatment and medication administration. The cases of medication non-adherence can also be reduced through good com munication. Communication further improves the level of respect and reputation between the nurse and the patient (Cultural.org, 2012). Health literacy can be perceived as the capacity to access, comprehend, analyse and convey information as a way to enhance, sustain and promote health in various settings (Medibankhealth, 2018). The presentation discusses how health literacy is defined in Australia and its association with healthcare delivery. In Australia, health literacy is defined as the skills and knowledge needed to comprehend and apply information associated with health issues like disease prevention and management, drugs and alcohol, accident prevention, and first aid. Health literacy can also be viewed as the ability to understand and use health information to improve the delivery of healthcare and make suitable health decisions (Lambert, et al., 2014). Low level of health literacy often occurs in vulnerable communities and it is associated with socially disadvantaged populations. Poverty and low education attainment are important predictors of health literacy level. Traditionally, health literacy concentrate d on health care services and had a finite concentration on the capacity to address words and numbers in medical contexts. Over the last few years, the idea of health literacy has evolved significantly to include the aspects of reading and acting on written health information (Van den Broucke, 2014). Health literacy is an important determinant of public health and determines the outcomes of patients across different healthcare settings. Low health literacy is not only an issue of the minorities because it even exists in the majority populations. The presentation discusses the Nutbeam model of health literacy. The Nutbeams model of health literacy consists of three levels including functional literacy, interactive health literacy, and critical health literacy (Nutbeam, 2015). Functional literacy is the capacity to use common literacy skills to address issues associated with health such as reading medication labels. This kind of literacy is applied mainly in clinical settings where information is conveyed to patients. In case a patient has poor functional health literacy skills, they might be unable to read prescription and written materials. On the other hand, interactive literacy emphasizes the development of cognitive skills as well as the capacity to operate in social environments (Mitchell Begoray, 2014). Interactive literacy depends on a sturdy foundation of the first level, which is functional health literacy. At this level, patients develop the ability to analyze message effectively and interact with others in the env ironment. Critical literacy depends on the other level of health literacy including functional and interactive literacy. Individuals who are at this level of health literacy can facilitate community development. Besides, persons at this level of health literacy can analyse health problems, determine the challenges and benefits of each aspect. The presentation will highlight the benefits of health literacy. Health literacy is essential in a culturally safe environment due to various factors. Undeniably, low health literacy is linked to poor health knowledge, poor health status, high mortality, high rates of hospitalisation and high costs of care. Nutbeam model insinuates that health literacy can act as a strategy for empowerment. Based on the model, health literacy allows an individual to seek, access and analyse health information (Lowell, Schmitt, Ah Chin, Connors, 2014). Health literacy enhances the appropriate use of medication and subsequent outcomes. Patients with high health literacy can use medication appropriately, which improves the outcome of their symptoms (Fincham, 2013). Additionally, health literacy increases the involvement of patients in medical decision-making. High order competence is positively associated with greater involvement in making decisions about medications (Brabers, Rademakers, Groenewegen, van Dijk, de Jong, 2017). Health literacy is even important for patients diagnosed with chronic health conditions. Health literacy allows patents diagnosed with chronic health conditions to access information, and apply appropriate skills to manage their condition (Poureslami, Nimmon, Rootman, Fitzgerald, 2016). In a culturally safe environment, health literacy allows the nurses to apply promote health based on the culture. The healthcare providers can address the needs of consumers in culturally diverse populations. Furthermore, health literacy integrates with effective communication to ensure the needs of the health consumers are met effectively. Word count: Rationale 1500 Presentation 250 Total - 1750 References Brabers, A. E., Rademakers, J. J., Groenewegen, P. P., van Dijk, L., de Jong, J. D. (2017). 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