This is a highly practical handbook aimed specifically at medical and health care professionals. The book begins with an overview of the main issues of counselling and communication looking also at the importance of self-care from both a personal and organizational perspective. Basic counselling and communication skills are followed by their application to specialised settings including sexual health, child health, infertility and rehabilitation.

Recent changes in the health service have highlighted the need for the health professional to have effective communication skills in order to maintain a high quality of service to the client. This book will meet the demands brought about by the changes in role from the student to practitioner through to managerial responsibilities.

What are intrinsic counselling skills? How can doctors deploy them to help optimize the outcomes of clinical transactions with their patients? Can such skills be taught and learned? This book is about the doctor-patient relationship. It is not about counselling per se but about certain counselling skills intrinsic to the medical consultation or clinical transaction. Together with other clinical skills, intrinsic counselling skills are needed to achieve clinical goals, satisfactory to both patient and doctor and appropriate to the clinical transaction and to the wider systems of healthcare. Clinical transactions can be intellectually, emotionally and sometimes physically demanding. Success depends on doctor and patient adequately fulfilling the obligations and responsibilities of their respective roles. But evidence shows that success also depends on doctors and patients forming a personal relationship of a quality capable of sustaining the sometimes arduous and distressing clinical work. Such a relationship depends on good communication, adequate mutual trust and the ability of doctors to empathise sufficiently with patients and their predicaments. Intrinsic counselling skills are those deployed in the essential task of harmonizing professional and interpersonal aspects of the clinical transaction. This book is recommended reading for doctors and medical students, post-registration vocational trainees and medical educators within medical schools.

An introduction to basic theoretical and practical skills essential for all health care professionals. Early chapters explore theoretical issues relating to the nature of counseling and self-awareness. Later chapters consider specific skills and discuss ways in which counseling skills can be learned. Includes individual and group exercises. This third edition contains new material on aggression and personal safety.

Covering the relationship between doctor and patient, this book is about certain counselling skills needed in the medical consultation. Aimed at medical students, it outlines what the intrinsic counselling skills are and if they can be taught.

Ensure you have the skills to effectively communicate with patients and other healthcare professionals! With its easy-to-read style, Effective Communication for Health Professionals, 2nd edition, is loaded with useful tips and exercises to help you learn the universal (and necessary) practice of communication. This full-color second edition reflects current therapeutic techniques, including Communication Guidelines feature boxes, Words at Work dialogue boxes, added case studies, and all-new content exploring the most current communication tools in the modern health care setting. In addition, interactive exercises on the Evolve companion website encourages you to practice therapeutic communication techniques in real-life situations. UNIQUE! Interactive activities on accompanying Evolve site include a variety of application exercises such as scenarios with voice mail messages and patient/caregiver interviews. Easy-to-read style provides practical information, hints, and tips. Test Your Communication IQ boxes provide you with a short self-assessment test at the beginning of each chapter. Spotlight on Success boxes provide you with useful, practical tips for improving workplace habits and communication. Expanding Critical Thinking boxes provide actual case examples and activities with useful tips to help you apply what you’ve learned to practice. Legal Eagle boxes provide useful tips that focus on honesty, as well as ethical and legal communication between patients and healthcare workers. End-of-chapter questions and exercises help you to use knowledge learned from topics presented in the chapter. NEW! Chapter devoted to cross-cultural communication promotes understanding of care in a diverse workplace NEW! Chapter on diseases and disorders discusses communication with patients experiencing specific physical and mental illnesses and disorders. NEW and UNIQUE! Words at Work dialogue boxes demonstrate actual conversations between healthcare workers and clients. UPDATED! Content reflects the most current communication tools for the modern healthcare setting. NEW! Full-color design and art program promote engagement. NEW and UNIQUE! Communication Guidelines boxes direct you to best practices for the effective exchange of information. NEW! Additional Taking the Chapter to Work case studies demonstrate real-life communication pitfalls and successes.