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Editor‑in‑Chief : Mohamad Said Maani Takrouri (KSA)
Open Access HTML Format
For entire Editorial Board visit : http://www.aeronline.org/editorialboard.asp
Anesthesia: Essays and Researches
Editorial
Communication skills and anesthesiologists Effective communication between doctor and patient improves health outcome or patient’s satisfaction, and reduces error, misunderstandings, distress, and negligence claims.[1]
rude and blunt in his/her presentation, calls them by wrong name, appears not to pay attention, promotes or talks negatively about something/somebody, and shows unnecessary sympathy.
Anesthesiologists are expected to communicate effectively with peers, patients, their families, and colleagues from medical fraternity. They have to take a focused history and perform a targeted examination during preanesthetic visits, both in elective and emergency scenarios, explain the risks and complications associated with the procedures to patients and relatives, and obtain consent for the same. They perform invasive procedures, during which communication to facilitate relaxation and comfort becomes important. Good communication skills of anesthesiologists are also warranted during anesthesia administration, surgical procedures, emergence from anesthetics, and handing over in the recovery room, intensive care units in pain clinics.
Good communication between anesthesiologists, surgeons, paramedical staffs, and peers is known to reduce adverse events.[3] Situational awareness, problem identification, decision making, workload distribution, time management, and conflict resolution are some of the measures taken for the effective teamwork.[4]
It was believed that communication skills are something that one is born with, but actually it is a skill that can be taught and improved upon.[2] Communication with patients or colleagues can be of two types namely conscious and subconscious. Conscious communication is based on logic and reasoning, while subconscious communication is expressed in the form of metaphor, symbolism, and imagery. Anesthesiologists can increase rapport with the patients by providing sense of control in decision making, offering choices, reflective listening and observing, acceptance of different realities (like patient’s beliefs or emotions, even if strange), utilization (patient’s presenting problems and concerns are reframed as solutions), and suggestion (direct, indirect, positive, negative, and linked). On the contrary, rapport decreases if the anesthesiologist is
A survey was conducted amongst the delegates attending an international neuroanesthesia conference.[5] Following important observations were made: • 95% of the participants felt that good verbal communication leads to better patient outcome; • 98% agreed communication between surgeons and anesthesiologists is important; • 85% said failure of communication causes stress; • 89% had no formal training to improve their communication skills during graduation/post graduation program; • 82% felt that communication skills training should be made mandatory in the curriculum. Although, most of the anesthesia text books do not include communication skills as their chapters, anesthesia residency review committees in different countries[6,7] now demand documentation of training in communication skills. So, time has come when all anesthesiologists should not consider themselves to be endowed with good or bad communication skills, but actively pursue the efforts to improve upon it to provide better support to their patients and create a harmonious work environment.
Mritunjay Kumar, Rajiv Chawla
Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, G B Pant Hospital, New Delhi, India E‑mail: [email protected]
Access this article online Website
DOI
www.aeronline.org
10.4103/0259-1162.118938
Quick Response Code
REFERENCES 1. 2. 3.
Levinson W, Chaumeton N. Communication between surgeons and patients in routine office visits. Surgery 1999;125:127‑34. Buckman R. Communications and emotions. Br Med J 2002;325:672. Awad SS, Fagan SP, Bellows C, Albo D, Green‑Rashad B, De la Garza M, et al. Bridging the communication gap in the operating room with medical team training. Am J Surg 2005;190:770‑4.
145
Anesthesia: Essays and Researches; 7(2); May-Aug 2013 4. 5. 6.
7.
Kumar and Chawla: Importance of communication skills for Anesthesiologists
Davies JM. Team communication in the operating room. Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 2005;49:898‑901. 2nd conference of the Asian Society of Neuroanaesthesiology and Critical Care, New Delhi. Personal Communication. The Royal College of Anaesthetists. The Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) in Anaesthetics‑Advanced Level Training (Annex E), Domain 1: Clinical practice, E‑7. Available from: http://www.rcoa.ac.uk/system/files/ TRG‑CCT‑AnnexE_1.pdf, [Last accessed on 2012 Oct 18]. American Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
General Competencies, Vers. 1.3. Available from: http://www.mc.vanderbilt. e d u / m e d s c h o o l / o t l m / r a t l / re f e re n c e s _ p d f / M o d u l e _ 4 / AC G M E OutcomeProject.pdf. [Last accessed on 2007 Sep 24].
How to cite this article: Kumar M, Chawla R. Communication skills and anesthesiologists. Anesth Essays Res 2013;7:145-6. Source of Support: Nil, Conflict of Interest: None declared.
Author Help: Online submission of the manuscripts Articles can be submitted online from http://www.journalonweb.com. For online submission, the articles should be prepared in two files (first page file and article file). Images should be submitted separately. 1) First Page File: Prepare the title page, covering letter, acknowledgement etc. using a word processor program. All information related to your identity should be included here. Use text/rtf/doc/pdf files. Do not zip the files. 2) Article File: The main text of the article, beginning with the Abstract to References (including tables) should be in this file. Do not include any information (such as acknowledgement, your names in page headers etc.) in this file. Use text/rtf/doc/pdf files. Do not zip the files. Limit the file size to 1 MB. Do not incorporate images in the file. If file size is large, graphs can be submitted separately as images, without their being incorporated in the article file. This will reduce the size of the file. 3) Images: Submit good quality color images. Each image should be less than 4 MB in size. The size of the image can be reduced by decreasing the actual height and width of the images (keep up to about 6 inches and up to about 1800 x 1200 pixels). JPEG is the most suitable file format. The image quality should be good enough to judge the scientific value of the image. For the purpose of printing, always retain a good quality, high resolution image. This high resolution image should be sent to the editorial office at the time of sending a revised article. 4) Legends: Legends for the figures/images should be included at the end of the article file. 146
Copyright of Anesthesia: Essays & Researches is the property of Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
Editor‑in‑Chief : Mohamad Said Maani Takrouri (KSA)
Open Access HTML Format
For entire Editorial Board visit : http://www.aeronline.org/editorialboard.asp
Anesthesia: Essays and Researches
Editorial
Communication skills and anesthesiologists Effective communication between doctor and patient improves health outcome or patient’s satisfaction, and reduces error, misunderstandings, distress, and negligence claims.[1]
rude and blunt in his/her presentation, calls them by wrong name, appears not to pay attention, promotes or talks negatively about something/somebody, and shows unnecessary sympathy.
Anesthesiologists are expected to communicate effectively with peers, patients, their families, and colleagues from medical fraternity. They have to take a focused history and perform a targeted examination during preanesthetic visits, both in elective and emergency scenarios, explain the risks and complications associated with the procedures to patients and relatives, and obtain consent for the same. They perform invasive procedures, during which communication to facilitate relaxation and comfort becomes important. Good communication skills of anesthesiologists are also warranted during anesthesia administration, surgical procedures, emergence from anesthetics, and handing over in the recovery room, intensive care units in pain clinics.
Good communication between anesthesiologists, surgeons, paramedical staffs, and peers is known to reduce adverse events.[3] Situational awareness, problem identification, decision making, workload distribution, time management, and conflict resolution are some of the measures taken for the effective teamwork.[4]
It was believed that communication skills are something that one is born with, but actually it is a skill that can be taught and improved upon.[2] Communication with patients or colleagues can be of two types namely conscious and subconscious. Conscious communication is based on logic and reasoning, while subconscious communication is expressed in the form of metaphor, symbolism, and imagery. Anesthesiologists can increase rapport with the patients by providing sense of control in decision making, offering choices, reflective listening and observing, acceptance of different realities (like patient’s beliefs or emotions, even if strange), utilization (patient’s presenting problems and concerns are reframed as solutions), and suggestion (direct, indirect, positive, negative, and linked). On the contrary, rapport decreases if the anesthesiologist is
A survey was conducted amongst the delegates attending an international neuroanesthesia conference.[5] Following important observations were made: • 95% of the participants felt that good verbal communication leads to better patient outcome; • 98% agreed communication between surgeons and anesthesiologists is important; • 85% said failure of communication causes stress; • 89% had no formal training to improve their communication skills during graduation/post graduation program; • 82% felt that communication skills training should be made mandatory in the curriculum. Although, most of the anesthesia text books do not include communication skills as their chapters, anesthesia residency review committees in different countries[6,7] now demand documentation of training in communication skills. So, time has come when all anesthesiologists should not consider themselves to be endowed with good or bad communication skills, but actively pursue the efforts to improve upon it to provide better support to their patients and create a harmonious work environment.
Mritunjay Kumar, Rajiv Chawla
Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, G B Pant Hospital, New Delhi, India E‑mail: [email protected]
Access this article online Website
DOI
www.aeronline.org
10.4103/0259-1162.118938
Quick Response Code
REFERENCES 1. 2. 3.
Levinson W, Chaumeton N. Communication between surgeons and patients in routine office visits. Surgery 1999;125:127‑34. Buckman R. Communications and emotions. Br Med J 2002;325:672. Awad SS, Fagan SP, Bellows C, Albo D, Green‑Rashad B, De la Garza M, et al. Bridging the communication gap in the operating room with medical team training. Am J Surg 2005;190:770‑4.
145
Anesthesia: Essays and Researches; 7(2); May-Aug 2013 4. 5. 6.
7.
Kumar and Chawla: Importance of communication skills for Anesthesiologists
Davies JM. Team communication in the operating room. Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 2005;49:898‑901. 2nd conference of the Asian Society of Neuroanaesthesiology and Critical Care, New Delhi. Personal Communication. The Royal College of Anaesthetists. The Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) in Anaesthetics‑Advanced Level Training (Annex E), Domain 1: Clinical practice, E‑7. Available from: http://www.rcoa.ac.uk/system/files/ TRG‑CCT‑AnnexE_1.pdf, [Last accessed on 2012 Oct 18]. American Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
General Competencies, Vers. 1.3. Available from: http://www.mc.vanderbilt. e d u / m e d s c h o o l / o t l m / r a t l / re f e re n c e s _ p d f / M o d u l e _ 4 / AC G M E OutcomeProject.pdf. [Last accessed on 2007 Sep 24].
How to cite this article: Kumar M, Chawla R. Communication skills and anesthesiologists. Anesth Essays Res 2013;7:145-6. Source of Support: Nil, Conflict of Interest: None declared.
Author Help: Online submission of the manuscripts Articles can be submitted online from http://www.journalonweb.com. For online submission, the articles should be prepared in two files (first page file and article file). Images should be submitted separately. 1) First Page File: Prepare the title page, covering letter, acknowledgement etc. using a word processor program. All information related to your identity should be included here. Use text/rtf/doc/pdf files. Do not zip the files. 2) Article File: The main text of the article, beginning with the Abstract to References (including tables) should be in this file. Do not include any information (such as acknowledgement, your names in page headers etc.) in this file. Use text/rtf/doc/pdf files. Do not zip the files. Limit the file size to 1 MB. Do not incorporate images in the file. If file size is large, graphs can be submitted separately as images, without their being incorporated in the article file. This will reduce the size of the file. 3) Images: Submit good quality color images. Each image should be less than 4 MB in size. The size of the image can be reduced by decreasing the actual height and width of the images (keep up to about 6 inches and up to about 1800 x 1200 pixels). JPEG is the most suitable file format. The image quality should be good enough to judge the scientific value of the image. For the purpose of printing, always retain a good quality, high resolution image. This high resolution image should be sent to the editorial office at the time of sending a revised article. 4) Legends: Legends for the figures/images should be included at the end of the article file. 146
Copyright of Anesthesia: Essays & Researches is the property of Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
