Communication Skills
In our survey, 78% of 67 healthcare professionals felt communication skills were 'very important' when it came to interacting with homeless patients but 24% said they were 'not at all confident' with handling conflict. Only 12% of those surveyed felt they were 'very confident' with handling conflict.
Of course, not all communication with homeless patients will involve conflict and that is not the intended message of this section! Our survey suggests, however, that this is an area where confidence might be improved and so it does seem worthwhile spending some time on the area of communicating in difficult consultations.
We have chosen two relevant areas to explore in further detail. Addiction to prescription medication is a growing concern generally and can affect homeless patients just as it can any other demographic. We present a possible consultation model for dealing with such issues.
We then consider the difficulties posed by a real life scenario (a request for medication) and see how to model might be applied.
Before continuing we suggest reading the page on PERSONALITY DISORDERS.
Of course, not all communication with homeless patients will involve conflict and that is not the intended message of this section! Our survey suggests, however, that this is an area where confidence might be improved and so it does seem worthwhile spending some time on the area of communicating in difficult consultations.
We have chosen two relevant areas to explore in further detail. Addiction to prescription medication is a growing concern generally and can affect homeless patients just as it can any other demographic. We present a possible consultation model for dealing with such issues.
We then consider the difficulties posed by a real life scenario (a request for medication) and see how to model might be applied.
Before continuing we suggest reading the page on PERSONALITY DISORDERS.