Introduction
The aim of this paper is to propose the need for the study of communication between health care providers and patients and its subsequent improvement based on six domains of quality elaborated by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). In particular, the concept of communication is one of the most important and beneficial values in terms of contemporary medicine and nursing (Street, 2013). In my point of view, communication lacks some prospects regarding understanding and openness to patients. In other words, there is a need to build such an environment that would promote transparent, fair, and respectful relationships between patients and caregivers.
Body
The ability to communicate effectively with patients may be referred to as the patient-centered domain of IOM. The patient’s satisfaction with the treatment largely depends on whether the interaction was positive, professional, and responsive or not (“The six domains of health care quality,” 2016). At this point, the most common complaint from patients is the inability of practitioners to listen carefully, provide clear and understandable answers, and, first and foremost, accurately identify those needs, values, and preferences that are inherent to every patient. Thus, ineffective communication is a barrier to quality health care as it creates mistrust and restraint. The misunderstanding in practitioner-patient communication affects the quality of medical care and also the course of the treatment process. As a result, safe and timely health care domains become difficult to implement, while they serve as the key indicators of avoiding harm to patients and the elimination of delays, respectively.
IOM identifies effectiveness as “providing services based on scientific knowledge to all who could benefit and refraining from providing services to those not likely to benefit, avoiding underuse and misuse” (“The six domains of health care quality,” 2016, para. 2). Aligning the mentioned statement with communication in the context of both outpatient and inpatient care, one may note that the proper relationships facilitate the implementation of evidence-based solutions, thus contributing to the most qualified treatment. In terms of efficiency that implies avoidance of waste regarding equipment and other resources, communication helps to prevent the use of additional measures to evaluate and treat patients.
The appropriate interaction focuses on the reflection of the core of the problem that the patients have to encounter. Based on the properly structured dialogue and attentiveness to details, a caregiver receives a powerful instrument of leading valuable conversations. More to the point, equitability is also an integral element of health care quality. A caregiver is expected to provide equal care for all patients regardless of their age, ethnicity, gender, and other peculiarities (“The six domains of health care quality,” 2016). It seems to be much easier to ensure such an approach through understanding and honest interest in patients’ needs and preferences in the course of communication.
Conclusion
To conclude, IOM’s six health care quality domains well align with practitioner-patient communication and serve as a guideline on improving the latter. Since both verbal and non-verbal communication forms are relevant to meet patients’ requirements and promote the best outcome possible, there is the need to “account for proximal and intermediate variables that link clinician-patient communication to the outcome of interest” (Street, 2013, p. 290). Considering the enhancement of communication between a caregiver and a patient along with six quality domains is a useful way of increasing health care quality level on practice.
References
Street, R. L. (2013). How clinician–patient communication contributes to health improvement: Modeling pathways from talk to outcome. Patient Education and Counseling, 92(3), 286-291.