Introduction to Healthcare Communication Strategies

This course from the Stanford Center for Health Education (SCHE) will teach you the strategies and techniques that facilitate effective communication about science and health. You’ll learn how to identify the fundamental skills that facilitate effective relationship-centered communication, and enhance your capacity to listen actively and purposefully. You’ll also explore how communicating accurate health information during public health campaigns, health education sessions, and doctor–patient interactions can help you build strong and trusting relationships with stakeholders. Additionally, you’ll explore how spontaneous facilitated communication can help you convey key messages with clarity and nuance. Using tools such as improvisation and role play, you’ll enhance your capacity to articulate a well-communicated response to a given situation in your own healthcare context.

• The foundation of effective communication within the health sector.
• The science behind communication.
• The impact of effective health communication and the implications of ineffective health communication.
• Relationship-centered communication and listening preferences.
• Role play and improvisation as tools for enhanced communication.