Communication skills

Hi everyone. I hope the placements went well and you guys enjoyed the experience working as a physio.

This blog is a reflexion how important is to have communication skills in our profession. Throughout the placements I noticed that it is crucial, in the inpatient or outpatient setting. By communication I mean verbal (with patients and staff) and written. I do think clinical reasoning and manual handling skills are essential, but if you don’t have good communication skills at the end of the day the treatment is less likely to be effective.
The initial challenge is to explain the aim of the treatment for the patient, set goals that match our goals based on the assessment and match with patient’s expectations (and if it is not realistic explain them why it is unrealistic). If we don’t get it right from the beginning on, the patient may not comply with treatment, therefore their progression won’t be as expected or they may get frustrated if their expectations don’t match with ours. Involve the family and give these explanations for them, if the are present and interested in, is also important so they feel more comfortable, participate on the goals setting and treatment. The next challenge, that I’ve noticed that other people had the some problem throughout their placements, is the compliance with home exercise program. Again, education is the key for the patient’s compliance. With regards HEP, the written communication is really important as well. Giving hand outs help the patient and family members remember the exercises or instructions given. Having it documented also protect ourselves if the patient is not progressing from not complying with home program.
In the inpatient or outpatient setting it is essential to have good communication with the whole team. In the inpatient setting especially it is almost impossible to think that we can treat in isolation from the other professionals. The relation with the other professionals is important for our safety, so we don’t have any “ surprises” on our treatment and for the patient well being. Having a good relation with nurses for example and getting used to negotiate our treatment with their help makes our life much easier. Also having a good relation with doctors in any area, helps our understanding what is happening medically with the patient and sometimes we need to educate them to what to expect from physio.

I wish you guys good luck on PCR and all the best in this journey of being a physiotherapist that is JUST starting!!

Caroline