Verbal Communication
Health professionals communicate directly with patients, their carers, visitors and members of the public every day. This communication is often important for patients to understand different treatment options, provide informed consent and to aid in their recovery and future health.
And yet we know that these interactions are frequently not as effective as we would like them to be. We know that there are practical ways of introducing relatively simple changes in communication that can have an important impact on the effectiveness of communication. Some practical tools are provided below.
Teachback.org
Teach-back is a simple yet effective communication tool used to check your client's understanding.
Always Use Teachback! Training Toolkit
This toolkit includes interactive learning modules and checklists for using Teachback effectively (a way to make sure you have explained information clearly).
Communication and Health Literacy Workplace Toolkit, Tasmanian Government Department of Health and Human Services
The toolkit provides information and practical tools to help reduce the health literacy demands placed on people using health services, including resources for spoken communication.
Shay, A. et al., (2015).
Where is the evidence? A systematic review of shared decision making and patient outcomes. Medical Decision Making, 35 (1), p. 114.
Talevski, J., Wong Shee, A., Rasmussen, B., Kemp, G., & Beauchamp, A. (2020).
Systematic Reviews. Teach-back: A systematic review of implementation and impacts. PloS One, 15(4), e0231350–e0231350. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0231350
National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards Second Edition, Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
Medicine dosage/instructions: Universal medication schedule
Expanding the Universal Medication Schedule: a patient-centred approach
Bailey, S. C., Wolf, M. S., Lopez, A., Russell, A., Chen, A. H., Schillinger, D., Moy, G., & Sarkar, U. (2014). Expanding the Universal Medication Schedule: a patient-centred approach. BMJ Open, 4(1), e003699–e003699