Abstract
The Italian Health Care System is changing drastically and is obliging the medical profession to do likewise in its outlook. Hospitals are nowadays organised like a business, with new departmental organisations being created and budgets to be managed. Doctors are obliged to acquire both managerial capacities and a more in-depth knowledge of human behaviour. A better understanding of doctor/patient and working team relations therefore becomes mandatory. A course on human communications was organised in our department to highlight the problems involved and to improve our professionalism. A first level course consisting of 6 two-and-a-half-hour meetings was attended by the medical and nursing staff. The topics were: communicative exchange in a health-care setting; the role of non-verbal communication in doctor/patient relationships; working team relationships; the burn-out syndrome. Twelve months later the results of this experience were checked by an interview/questionnaire. Our communicative behaviour has not been revolutionised, but awareness of some communication problems have, however, changed our attitude. The concepts which have been assimilated more readily are: good communication does not mean just being “kind” in a therapeutical setting, but of being able to understand the real problems, needs and expectations of patients as well as ensuring that they also understand what they are told, so that they follow prescriptions and the percentage of recoveries consequently improves; in effective communication, verbal and non-verbal information should not be in conflict; it is impossible not to communicate and any attempt not to do so is interpreted as a refusal; particular attention should be paid in working team relationships to dysfunctional communication and the emergence of burn-out syndromes.
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