Discuss how communication within an inter-professional team could Essay

Discuss how communication within an inter-professional team could affect collaborative working strategies - Essay Example Sometimes, patients cannot communicate verbally due to sickness and have to resort to nonverbal communication to interact with staff. Healthcare professionals must have the necessary listening and verbal and nonverbal communication skills (Beebe and Mottet, 2013:32). Consequently, effective clinical practice requires many cases where vital information must be relayed verbally and nonverbally and listening skills must be honed and applied. Team collaboration and inter-professional communication are essential. When healthcare practitioners are not using verbal and nonverbal communication effectively, as well as listening closely to patient needs, the lives of patients may be at risk (Markel, 2013:21). Lack of vital information and misinterpretation of information, poor listening skills, ignored changes in status and body language, and unclear orders using communication tools like mobile phones can endanger the lives of patients and put healthcare professionals in major dilemmas (Markel, 2013:25). Poor verbal and nonverbal communication, as well as poor listening skills, creates scenarios where medical mistakes can occur. These mistakes have the potential to result in serious injuries or sudden patient deaths. In the UK, mental health mistakes, especially those caused by poor communication and listening, are a major challenge in current organisations (Happell, Platania-Phung, Scott, & Nankivell, 2014:37). According to research conducted by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organisations, mental health mistakes would rank 5th in the list of top ten causes of patient deaths in America if they were included in the annual official statistics. This is ahead of serious illnesses like Alzheimer’s, gunshots, AIDS, diabetes, breast cancer, and accidents (Waldeck and Kearney, 2013:34). The study also revealed that over 50,000 people die in America every year because of medical mistakes. In the UK, up to 33,000 patients die annually