Professional Communication and Its Importance in the Doctor’s Office

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It isn’t what you say, it’s how you say it.

This is one of the cardinal rules of professional communication, and it’s important to remember. Think of the message you’re trying to convey as a passenger in a car. Pulling out your everyday language would be like showing up to a company event in a beat-up clunker with mismatched paint. It will get your point to the destination, but it won’t be well-received showing up in that ride. If you use professional language free of jargon, slang, and other colorful expressions though then it’s like you’re delivering your point in a sleek, shiny sedan. It’s obvious in your expression that you know what you’re talking about, and you’re here to work.

Professional Communication in the Doctor’s Office

professional communication in a doctor's officeNowhere is proper communication more important than it is in the doctor’s office. Not only do you need to put on a professional face for patients and co-workers, but what you say could quite literally alter someone’s life. So rather than using jargon to explain a medical decision to a patient, or a slang term to relate a patient’s problem to a doctor, it’s best to use the correct terminology.

It’s also important to dot your I’s and cross your T’s.

It isn’t just your spoken words either. With so much of the medical field depending on patient files it’s important for you to beable to express yourself in text as well. Every report, every chart, could be the key to the next doctor providing the right care. That’s why it’s so important for you to make sure your writing is legible and sensical, otherwise it could lead to serious problems down the line when someone whom you don’t know tries to interpret the guide you left behind.

For more information on the importance of professional communication in the doctor’s office simply contact us today!

The Early Days of Ebola vs. HIV: Similarities and Differences

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In the early 1980’s a new disease entered the U.S. that had doctors scrambling to find answers. A number of gay men in both New York and California were experiencing treatment resistant diseases and cancers that were extremely uncommon. Luckily, doctors were able to relate the diverse presentations of the new disease fairly quickly. In the early days, this disease didn’t have a name. Today, we know it as Human Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV. To put U.S. cases of HIV in perspective, currently the CDC  estimates that “1,144,500 persons aged 13 years and older are living with HIV infection, including 180,900 (15.8%) who are unaware of their infection1.”

Lab technician examining lab work. From the Avidity Medical Design Blog.With new cases of Ebola presenting in the U.S., it is important to compare our handling of patients to that of the early days of the HIV outbreak. When we look at Ebola vs. HIV: similarities and differences, we can find ways to improve our initial response thereby gaining better control of the spread of diseases with no currently known cure and high death rates.

Misinformation in the early days of HIV caused many to believe that only gay men need fear the infection. Since then, we have learned differently. Many of the early cases of HIV could have been prevented had we known about the danger to our blood supply and had a more complete understanding of how HIV spreads. Currently Ebola is on the tipping point between those who want to believe it is “someone else’s disease” and those who fear contracting it from any stranger they meet. This combination of fear and denial is the perfect atmosphere to create larger spread of the infection. Although Ebola does not hide in a person’s system creating the risk of invisible carriers, its early symptoms are flu-like. We live in a country that is very used to going to work when they are ill. Ebola becomes contagious once symptoms present so denial is a dangerous attitude. Until real, truthful information on prevention is widely understood, diseases are far harder to contain.

bunch of white oval medication tablets and white medication capsules

Early treatment is also very important. Luckily, we have known options for the treatment of Ebola. We have been developing medications to battle the outbreak in Africa for some time and feel that we understand how to fight the illness. Advances in these treatments are already in development. This differs greatly from early treatment of HIV where doctors were forced to try options based on best guesses pulled from incomplete evidence. Had we been studying the HIV virus for as long as we have been studying Ebola, we would have had much better chances to minimize its effects on our population.

For more information on healthcare, follow the Avidity Medical Design Blog. To learn more about our online healthcare courses, visit Avidity Medical Design Academy. To purchase scented soaps and candles inspired by healthcare, visit Avidity Medical Scentations.

woman speaking with doctor in doctor's office

Why Medical Terminology Is So Important To Learn

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Medical terminology is important if you work in the healthcare field. It is the basis for all that you will do. It is used to describe symptoms, diagnoses, tests that need to be ordered and ran, and special medical equipment. The terminology is spoken and written in charts so you must learn to say, spell, and read medical terms.

medical terminology

Medical terminology is important for many reasons:

  • It allows all healthcare workers to communicate in one language.
  • You will use it every day when you work in the healthcare field.
  • If you have to get your medical dictionary out every time you get asked to do something, you will be wasting valuable time. Nurses, doctors, and other health care professionals do not have time to waste, especially in an emergency situation.
  • One small mistake can make a big difference. You could give the wrong medication or just give the right medication the wrong way. It can be the difference between ordering the right test or the wrong one! You need to understand medical terms.
  • Common abbreviations are used in patient records. This helps doctors and nurses write quickly and efficiently in the records so that they can be onto the next patient. It also allows you to read and understand the records quickly.

If you want to do a great job in the health care field, you need to learn medical terminology and understand it! You do not want to have to reach for a medical dictionary every time you are told to do something. If you are unsure, it is better to check your dictionary than get something wrong. However, with a basic understanding of medical terminology, you will be able to communicate quickly and efficiently with other healthcare professionals.

how to learn basic medical terminology online course offered by Avidity Medical Design Academy

If you are interested in learning more about medical terminology, enroll in the course entitled, “How to Learn Basic Medical Terminology (in 5 EASY Steps!) (and USE IT in EVERYDAY Living!)” offered by Avidity Medical Design Academy.

Watch sample lectures from the Medical Terminology course below:

Lecture 6 from “How to Learn Basic Medical Terminology (in 5 EASY Steps!) (and USE IT in EVERYDAY Living!)”
Lecture 7 from “How to Learn Basic Medical Terminology (in 5 EASY Steps!) (and USE IT in EVERYDAY Living!)”
Lecture 8 from “How to Learn Basic Medical Terminology (in 5 EASY Steps!) (and USE IT in EVERYDAY Living!)”

Click Here to Take the Full Medical Terminology Course for Only $29.99!

Contact us whether you need a full course or a refresher course on medical terminology!

Keys to Effective Training in the Healthcare e-Learning Environment

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Managing healthcare e-Learning doesn’t have to be difficult, but there are three requirements that you just can’t afford to skip.

  • First: Ensure the system you use is accurate. Misinformation about medicine in the outside world is a significant problem. Unfortunately that is sometimes a problem within the field of medicine and health information management. For this reason, it is important to make sure that whatever system you use is screened for accuracy before using it as a training medium. This ensures that the information given to patients is substantive, and that the education provided is technically accurate and beneficial to patients as well as other healthcare practitioners.
  • Second: Ensure that the e-Learning platform is easy to use. Even if you are proficient in computer navigation, it’s likely that you’ve found a piece of software or website that was simply a pain to navigate. When you are considering one or more healthcare e-Learning solutions, make sure that the learning management system (LMS) is easy to navigate and that the platform is user friendly. This reduces the amount of time spent training employees, and helps them learn how to navigate the LMS with a minimum amount of difficulty. Make sure when considering a healthcare e-Learning solution that the system is easy to navigate, explains itself well so that you aren’t wasting large amounts of time training your employees on how to use the system, and that someone who has little to no computer expertise can navigate the system easily.
  • Third: Ensure that your training program is constantly evolving. This is necessary to keep pace with constant changes in the healthcare industry, and to support the theory that knowledge evolves over time. The information that we use to train healthcare professionals needs to evolve in relation to the knowledge that we gain about new healthcare methods, practices, policies, and procedures. For this reason, it is important to keep training programs up to date as new medical discoveries are made. This also ensures that patients are getting the best possible care, and healthcare employees are given the most accurate medical data to work with, in order to optimize their performance as healthcare practitioners.

To talk more about this, or anything else, please Contact Us. Thanks.

Three Ways to Use Facebook to Train Healthcare Students

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Facebook has become not only a way to find old friends or learn about the weekend’s events, it is also an incredible learning tool, for students of healthcare and countless other topics.  Teachers can utilize Facebook for class projects, for enhancing communication, and for engaging students in a manner that might not be entirely possible in traditional classroom settings.  Be creating a page specifically for the class, managing the privacy settings to exclude outside visitors, and connecting the class blog or online learning homepage to Facebook, healthcare students have a relaxed, inviting atmosphere of learning that encourages How to use facebook to train healthcare studentsparticipation and engagement.

Facebook encourages participation in class projects and class discussions where classroom learning often fails.  Healthcare students could be instructed to follow current news feeds.  There are dozens of pages related to the medical field, updated daily and broken down into sections for relevancy, keeping current information flowing through the class.  With the wealth of information available to healthcare scholars, students can review assigned topics, then post their abstracts on Facebook for other students to read, discuss, and peer-review.  An excellent way to ensure that healthcare students are more engaged in the learning experience—whether in a traditional classroom or at accredited online colleges—is by strengthening the communication between students and student-to-teacher.

Educators can create groups, schedule events, send messages, share multimedia, post class notes, make announcements, and post homework on Facebook, providing direct communication with instructors, facilitating classmate connections, and allowing shy students a way to communicate.  Healthcare students can even practice doctor-patient communication and bedside manner through Facebook messaging and comments.

Facebook for education offers students the opportunity for active communication on a level playing field.  Since students are likely familiar with Facebook already, implementing it into healthcare education and training provides comfortable, easy student access.  Facebook promotes collaboration, teaches personal responsibility, and keeps schools current in many medical and professional fields.

Please contact us to learn more tips on How To Use Facebook to Train Healthcare Students.

Management Participation is Fundamental to Successful Healthcare e-Learning

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When it comes to healthcare e-learning, multiple studies show that management should be involved in each stage of the curriculum development process. This is crucial for obtaining quality deliverables and measurable results that accurately reflect changes in healthcare. When you are looking for an instructional design service, ask how they will address management participation.

healthcare e-learning avidity medical design Specializing in creating blended learning solutions for both the educational and corporate sectors, we have an extensive background in healthcare as well as instructional and performance technology. This positions us to respond to the frequently expressed concerns of many managers:

Management Expertise: We understand the role of key stakeholders with regard to choosing the right content for curriculum development. If you are already working in the healthcare field, you may play a role in choosing the subject matter, mapping course objectives, determining your target audience, prioritizing the schedule for course deliverables, and maintaining cost efficiency. We can work with your priorities.

Real World Impact: Of course, e-learning is advantageous when it comes to cost and convenience. However, it also needs to deliver results and significant value. We can demonstrate that employees will be able to immediately transfer what they learn in our curriculum to their real world environment.

Full Customization: The best instructional design strategies incorporate higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, which can be adapted to meet the needs of different students and different workplace settings. Our healthcare courses are tailored to your needs. You can choose a single topic, or create your own topic from a combination of healthcare subjects. We design curriculum in medical coding (including ICD-10 training courses), medical billing, medical claims processing, medical transcription, health information management, healthcare statistics, healthcare reimbursement, anatomy and physiology, dental assisting, and many other areas (including areas not directly related to healthcare). We can also train your healthcare trainers.

Avidity Medical Design specializes in all areas of instructional design for the healthcare industry. Contact us now to see how we can help you start developing your next course, and how we can help you meet your short- and long-term objectives for content development.