Communication. Types of communication. Functions, structure. Communication culture and its influence on the professional growth of a doctor.
Communication is a process of interaction between people, aimed at mutual knowledge, the establishment and development of relationships and presupposing mutual influence on the states, views, behavior and regulation of the joint activities of the participants in this process.
In its most general form, communication acts as a form of life activity. The concept of communication is closely related to the concept of communication. The act of communication is analyzed and assessed according to the following components:
- addressee – subject of communication;
- recipient – to whom the message is sent;
- message – transmitted content;
- code – a means of transmitting a message, a communication channel;
- result – what is achieved as a result of the message.
According to the criterion of the purpose of communication, eight functions of communication are distinguished:
- contact – establishing contact as a state of mutual readiness to receive and transmit messages and maintain relationships in the form of constant mutual orientation;
- informational - exchange of information, as well as exchange of opinions, plans, decisions, etc.;
- incentive – stimulation of the partner’s activity to direct him to perform certain actions;
- coordination – mutual orientation and coordination of actions when organizing joint activities;
- the function of understanding - not only adequate perception and understanding of the meaning of the message, but also mutual understanding - intentions, attitudes, experiences, states, etc.;
- emotive – arousing the necessary emotional experiences in a partner, as well as changing one’s experiences and states with his help;
- the function of establishing relationships - awareness and fixation of one’s place in the system of role, status, business, interpersonal and other connections of the community in which the individual operates;
- the function of exerting influence - changing the state, behavior, personal and semantic formations of the partner, including his intentions, attitudes, opinions, decisions, ideas, needs, actions, activities, etc.
The means of communication are various sign systems.
Verbal means of communication include speech and language. The accuracy of the use of the word, its expressiveness and intelligibility, and the correct pronunciation of sounds and words play an important role.
Words and rules for their use are the same for all speakers of a given language. Speech sound phenomena - intonation, emotional expressiveness, speech rate (fast, medium, slow), timbre, rhythm (uniform, intermittent). This includes non-verbal expressions: pauses, laughter, coughing, etc.
The nonverbal side of communication includes external manifestations of human feelings and emotions, which is the subject of the study of kinesics:
- facial expressions – movement of facial muscles; gesticulation – gestural movements of individual parts of the body; pantomime - motor skills of the whole body: poses, posture, bows, gait;
- takeshika – touching in a communication situation: handshakes, kisses, touching, stroking, pushing away;
- proxemics – a special field that deals with the norms of spatio-temporal organization of communication; arrangement of people in space when communicating.
The following distance zones in human contact are distinguished:
- intimate (15–45 cm), only close, well-known people are allowed into this zone; this zone is characterized by trust, a quiet voice in communication, tactful contact, touching;
- personal, or personal (45–120 cm), for everyday conversation with friends and colleagues, involves only visual contact between partners maintaining a conversation;
- social (120–400 cm) is usually observed during official meetings in offices, teaching and other office premises, as a rule, with those who are not well known;
- public (over 400 cm) implies communication with a large group of people - in a lecture hall, at a rally, etc.
The communication procedure includes the following stages:
- the need for communication (it is necessary to communicate or find out information, influence the interlocutor, etc.) prompts a person to come into contact with other people;
- orientation for the purposes of communication, in a communication situation;
- orientation to the personality of the interlocutor;
- planning the content of one’s communication: a person imagines (usually unconsciously) what exactly he will say;
- unconsciously (sometimes consciously) a person chooses specific means, speech phrases that he will use, decides how to speak, how to behave;
- perception and assessment of the interlocutor’s response, monitoring the effectiveness of communication based on establishing feedback;
- adjustment of direction, style, communication methods.
If any of the links in the act of communication is broken, then the speaker will not be able to achieve the expected results of communication - it will turn out to be ineffective. These skills are called “social intelligence”, “practical-psychological intelligence”, “communicative competence”, “communication skills”.
Communication barriers:
- stereotypes – simplified opinions regarding individuals or situations;
- “preconceived ideas” - rejection of everything that does not correspond to one’s own views;
- a hostile attitude towards the interlocutor (or the interlocutor towards you) creates difficulties in the process of convincing a person;
- lack of attention and interest of the interlocutor until he realizes the meaning of the information for himself;
- neglect of facts, that is, the habit of drawing conclusions and conclusions based on superficial information;
- incorrect choice of words, illogicality;
- incorrect choice of communication strategy.
Communication Strategies:
- open – closed;
- monologue – dialogic;
- role (based on the social role) – personal (heart-to-heart communication).
The following types of communication are distinguished depending on:
- from the base:
- verbal – non-verbal;
- contact – distant;
- direct – indirect;
- oral – written;
- dialogical – monological;
- interpersonal – mass;
- private – official (business);
- sincere – manipulative;
- goals:
- “contact masks” - formal communication, when there is no desire to understand and take into account the personality characteristics of the interlocutor, familiar masks are used (politeness, severity, etc.) - a “set” of facial expressions, gestures, standard phrases that allow one to hide true emotions, attitudes to the interlocutor;
- primitive communication, when they evaluate another person as a necessary or interfering object: if necessary, they actively come into contact, if it interferes, they will push away or aggressive rude remarks will follow. If they get what they want from their interlocutor, they lose further interest in him and do not hide it;
- formal-role communication, when both the content and means of communication are regulated and instead of knowing the personality of the interlocutor, they make do with knowledge of his social role;
- business communication, when the personality, character, age, and mood of the interlocutor are taken into account, but the interests of the business are more significant than possible personal differences;
- spiritual, interpersonal communication between friends, when you can touch on any topic and do not necessarily resort to words; a friend will understand you by facial expression, movements, intonation. Such communication is possible when each participant has an image of the interlocutor, knows his personality, can anticipate his reactions, interests, beliefs, attitudes;
- manipulative communication is aimed at extracting benefits from the interlocutor, using various techniques (flattery, intimidation, deception) depending on the personality of the interlocutor;
- secular communication - the essence is its pointlessness, i.e. people say not what they think, but what is supposed to be said in such cases; this communication is closed, because people’s points of view on a particular issue do not matter and do not determine the nature of communications.
Research shows that the “specific weight” of words (their role) in establishing mutual understanding is 7%, intonation – 39%; non-speech interaction
Communication culture and its influence on the professional growth of a doctor Outside of communication, i.e. communicative basis, the profession of a doctor is in principle impossible. Based on communication, spiritual contact is established between the doctor and the patient, which is a condition for diagnosis and treatment. But besides this, professional communication is the doctor’s habitat in which his professional consciousness and clinical thinking are formed. Through communication, the synergetic unity of the medical community, mutual understanding, unity in achieving professional goals is achieved, a community of thoughts, feelings, moods, views and ideas is formed. professional communication of a doctor is of a sociocultural nature, manifested by:
- in his ability to be an exponent of collective professional consciousness and a condition for the formation of professional culture;
- in the historical connection of acts of communication, where there is historical continuity in the development of the medical profession, people master its achievements and, in general, the culture of the past;
- in the sociocultural significance of the doctor and his role. The sociocultural nature of a doctor’s communication is determined by the goals and values of the profession and is inseparable from the ethics of behavior. Moreover, the nature of communication is directly dependent on the moral models of medicine that have developed in the history of culture. The basis for a doctor’s professional communication is his awareness of his own internal freedom. A doctor’s communication has no templates or stereotypes. Medical communication is always a burden of social responsibility to colleagues, medical staff, each individual patient and his relatives. The qualitative characteristics of freedom of communication, and therefore the actions of a doctor, are his ability to manage himself, his will, as well as responsibility, not only to the patient, his relatives, the team, but also to himself.
Analyzing the features of medical professional communication, we can identify the following main aspects:
- Psychological, which reflects, on the one hand, the peculiarities of the psychological makeup of the entire medical professional community, and on the other, the individual psychological qualities of the doctor’s personality.
- The linguistic aspect of a doctor’s communication is associated with the internal structure of literary and professional language and their functions. A doctor must know the norms of literary language and medical terminology, be able to apply them in practice, know the style of professional speech, i.e. have a certain linguistic competence, which is an indicator of the general and professional culture of the doctor.
- The therapeutic aspect is the most important in the systems of relationships between doctor - colleagues and doctors - patient. When a doctor communicates with colleagues, emotional relief increases, feelings of confidence, mutual assistance, friendship are born, “complexes”, feelings of loneliness, etc. disappear.
But communication has a special therapeutic effect for the patient. A doctor's word can heal a patient or aggravate his painful condition.
- The existential aspect of a doctor’s communication is manifested in the emotional experiences of difficult situations related to professional activities. In communication, the doctor always faces a choice - how, without losing his professional dignity and honor, to be truthful in relation to other people, to win them over, in order to achieve success in treatment. The exceptional existential of a doctor is faith and trust - these are internal attitudes based on conviction in the correctness of one’s professional actions. The doctor’s trust in the patient and the patient’s trust in the doctor are the key to successful treatment and recovery of the patient. The existential characteristics of the act of medical communication include humor and laughter, which, unfortunately, have not been properly studied. The humor that doctors possess, on the one hand, is serious, on the other hand, it is devoid of sharpness, has a beneficial effect on the emotional state of the patient, relieves the feeling of fear and depression, helps create psychological comfort in the team, etc.
Thus, a doctor’s communication objectively reflects the level of his general and professional culture. In the act of communication in a single alloy, both the external (material) side of his culture is manifested - somatic, valeological components, manners, appearance, clothing, speech culture, and the internal (spiritual) side - knowledge, moral values, ideals, social feelings , humor, tact and delicacy.