Nonverbal Communication

Who would have thought as a physician there’s so many ways to communicate with your patients and their families? After having so many years in medical school most people would like to think that it’s common sense when speaking to a patient, patient’s family, coworkers and even supervisors. Sadly, many fail to realize that being in medical school doesn’t mean you also obtain the correct social skills when telling a patient’s family that he or she is dead. Communicating with patients are key to solving unexplainable causes when the data cannot prove it. Talking to the patient, learning where they have been, what’s been going in their body, and how they feel are important for patient care and can even help diagnose that patient. In the medical

Majority of people would like to think that verbal communication is all that physician use; when that’s not the case. About ten percent of verbal communication is use; whereas ninety percent of nonverbal communication is being use explained in the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostics Research. Using non-verbal communication determines the atmosphere that a physician and patients are in. Non-verbal communication is just as important as verbal communication. As a physician, it’s important to be engaged into what you’re asking a patient and the respond your giving to that patient. Using non -verbal communication such as facial expression, posture, and attitude can destroy the verbal communication that you’re having with that patient. An article by Elana Goodwin explains the importance of having good verbal and non-verbal communication with patients. In her article, she says,” Without communication, verbal, nonverbal, written, and otherwise, the medical field would be much less efficient and organized, and patients would suffer for it.” The non-verbal communication sets the tone for the verbal communication. For example, giving short answer to the question being ask by a patient would make that patient feel insignificant towards their physician. In my interview, she explains she seen one of her coworkers with bad non-verbal communication towards his patient that lead to the patient mood being change. Seeing the patient mood change lead that patients verbally stop communicating. Having a patient verbally stop communicating makes the job of physician even harder because we can’t no longer get enough information to help with the