Communication Skills in Healthcare

Course Description
This course on Communication Skills in Healthcare is designed to develop the core interpersonal, professional, and patient-centred communication competencies essential for effective clinical practice. It integrates theoretical foundations with practical application to enhance the clarity, empathy, and accuracy of communication between healthcare professionals, patients, and multidisciplinary teams. Emphasis is placed on verbal and non-verbal communication, delivering difficult news, counselling techniques, interprofessional collaboration, and reflective practice. The course promotes the ethical and culturally sensitive use of communication strategies to support patient safety, shared decision-making, and continuity of care.

Course Objectives
By the end of this course, learners will be able to:

1. Explain the principles and components of effective communication in healthcare contexts.
2. Demonstrate appropriate verbal and non-verbal communication techniques in clinical interactions.
3. Analyse communication challenges in complex scenarios such as breaking bad news or conflict situations.
4. Evaluate interprofessional communication practices to support collaborative clinical decision-making.
5. Design a personal development plan for continuous improvement of communication competencies.

Course Outcomes
On successful completion of the course, learners will be able to:

1. Describe the key elements of patient-centred and therapeutic communication.
2. Apply effective communication strategies across different patient populations and clinical situations.
3. Differentiate between effective and ineffective communication in case-based discussions.
4. Critique communication processes within healthcare teams to identify gaps and propose improvements.
5. Formulate an actionable plan for ongoing enhancement of individual communication performance.