Preview Team Communication for Healthcare Professionals [PREVIEW] Team Communication for Healthcare Profes | Page 15

being judged and ridiculed myself”. Disputes between clinicians within earshot of
patients are likely to have a detrimental impact on their openness or commitment to
treatment.
Direct communication between the healthcare professional and patient is generally out of
scope for this book. Patient care on the other hand is a constant consideration.
Good teamwork and communication is also essential for the wellbeing of healthcare
workers themselves. Problems with stress and burnout impacting on performance as
well as leading to short term absence and skilled people leaving their profession are well
documented. We all need support from above, below and alongside.
Unprofessional, disruptive and even harmful behaviour ranging from bullying through to
simply being ‘difficult’ persists within the professional environment. - some of which is
deliberate and some unintended. Once again, there are direct detrimental implications
for quality and safety of patient care as well as for the day to day experience and
wellbeing of other healthcare professionals.
I have rarely met anyone who intended to demoralise or intimidate. Yet that is precisely
the effect their behaviours have had on others. What matters is the effect, not the
intent.
Jo Shapiro, Center for Professionalism and Peer Support, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston
The problem may well be the behaviour and communication of the perpetrator.
Unfortunately, all too often unprofessional behaviour goes unchallenged, and so persists.
We will be exploring the subjects of feedback and challenge throughout this book along
with how to manage conflict if and when it does arise.
This could all easily converge to feelings of being overwhelmed and facing the
impossible challenge. However, there is plenty of evidence that small changes can lead
to dramatic results. One piece of evidence to support this case is the success of the
inclusion of a simple step on the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist. “Confirm all team
members have introduced themselves by name and role.” What could be considered a
perfunctory process has its roots in the principles of good communication and has been
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