Healthcare Communication

Health Communication is a means of communicating health information to media, to community within and outside medical/healthcare field and  to patients and their near and dear ones, in an effective way. This is an important way to increase health literacy and communicate the exact situation to patients about the health situation and healthcare procedure in-use, during the treatment process. There are various ways to communicate health information with patients and close ones, in a simple way:

• Keeping health communication simple
• Communicating in local/ regional language
• Avoiding medical jargons
• Using models and pictures to make explanation simple
• Using infographics  to ensure complete information transfer
• Advertising through visuals for better retention of procedure details and so on.

Considering these , simple steps, innovating and forming internal health communication groups within healthcare facilities could help in establishing health literacy. This not only will ease communication and understanding among patients and their kith and kin, but will also simplify communication among doctors and patients. And above all will help to reduce risk of misunderstandings and bring out better health outcomes.