Communication between the healthcare providers and patients can be challenging to both the receiver and sender (DuPré and Overton, 2021). Bridging the gap of understanding and communication between the patient and provider can reduce health issues and improve health outcomes. Health communication has been effective in empowering and influence individuals and communities in making healthier choices. This paper will focus on a reflection on the patient-provider experience related to informed consent and collaborative communication in healthcare.
Reflection
An adolescent girl accompanied by her mother came to the clinic to discuss birth control. During the interaction, the mother kept disagreeing with her daughter’s decision that she was sexually active and proceeded to leave the examination room. However, the physician cooled down the mother and persuaded her to remain in the room to understand what would happen during the clinical visit. The physician encouraged open communication between the daughter and her mother. They discussed the birth control options, their benefits, and their risks. This increased engagement and reduced the risk of the outcomes due to increased satisfaction. The provider educated the mother about birth control and why such a teenager was required to speak about the best method.
Informed Consent
Information consent entails the process of communication between the patient and the healthcare provider, which leads to permission for care and agreement of treatment services (Cordasco, 2013). This is where the healthcare provider explains the medical procedure to the patient before agreeing to it. In the past, providers only told the patients the information to know and avoided sharing information they thought would prevent them from following the recommendations. Some of the healthcare providers relied on the power over patients to exploit patient’s rights. Therefore, this kind of communication plays an essential role in informing the patient, allowing them to deny or accept treatment and ask questions regarding the medical procedure. The informed consent process improves the ability to make a decision, explaining the information required to make decisions, understanding the medical information, and voluntary decisions to acquire treatment (Cordasco, 2013). Informed consent has been used to avoid confusion and misunderstanding about what is required about the ongoing medical treatment.
For this case, informed consent entails communicating the benefits and risks of birth control options. Insufficient information regarding the risks and benefits would be unsatisfactory. Informed consent allowed the patient to participate in their medical care by deciding what birth controls would be effective. Additionally, educating the mother regarding birth control among teenagers and its importance was essential in engaging them in the birth control options.
Collaborative communication
Collaboration entails interaction between the health providers and patients through shared information and communication. Collaborative communication has allowed knowledge sharing in health practices. Considerably, rather than informing someone about their status and what they have to do, collaborative medical communication has enabled providers and patients to treat each other as peers and develop solutions that they are comfortable with (Jenerette and Mayer, 2016). People have become more engaged and informed about health than before. Therefore, rather than being told about what is happening, they have demanded to participate in their health care process. Patients with a less collaborative and more authoritative provider are less likely to share information with the providers or even remember the treatment requirements. In collaborative communication, the health care provider takes the role of a friend and counselor of the patient to achieve health outcomes.
Collaborative communication effectively selected the best choice depending on the assessment of the potential outcomes linked to the options. In the collaborative communication, the health care provider was responsible for contributing their medical knowledge on birth controls while the patients offered expertise in their preferences. Together, the patient and provider collaborate to achieve a goal with the daughter and mother being involved in making more consistent decisions with their values and preferences.
Conclusion
In summation, the patient-provider experience has enlightened the need for effective patient-physician communication. Informed consent and collaborative communication facilitate better decision-making in the care process. Health care providers require good communication skills and relationships with patients to support their learning and engagement in their care process. Patient-provider interaction allows mutual and shared understanding and exchange of information that promotes satisfaction, shared respect, and meaningful decisions in care.
