Download Communication Techniques for Client-Centred Care

Oh Canada! Winter Issue - 2015
Communication Techniques for
Client-Centred Care
by Josie Giannola, RDH, BA • [email protected]
My professional life as a registered dental hygienist
changed as I knew it a couple of years ago once I had the
opportunity to work as a dental practice advisor. I took on
this new challenge with great optimism and enthusiasm to
seek out like-minded dental hygienists whose passion for
education drove them to meet the needs of their clients.
Within two years, however, I discovered, much to my
surprise, that communication is not the cornerstone of our
industry. The enthusiasm I had so passionately brought to
the table with each new client didn’t seem to match that
of my peers, whom I now had the pleasure of coaching.
Something was lost in each interaction with clients.
As a consultant, I have now had the opportunity to
observe and listen to hundreds of dental hygienists interact
with their clients, so I thought I would share some of my
experiences in the hopes of helping some readers return
to their fundamentals in education. I also write this article
because I have great respect for my peers and want to use
what I have been fortunate enough to witness as a learning
opportunity for us all.
While I do believe that as professionals we mean well,
sometimes we forget to “state the obvious” in terms of
utilizing our appointment time wisely to educate and
explain our vast knowledge and clinical findings to the
client. I have watched clients squirm with confusion when
they didn’t understand what the clinician was talking about
but felt awkward asking questions if they were given the
opportunity. In such cases, we are not using our detailed
training and great knowledge base to their full advantage in
our day-to-day interactions.
I have broken down my findings into six areas that I feel
have become “lost in translation.”
PACE
We have to slow down. Communication is extremely
ineffective when we race through conversations. We lose
our clients when we skip over details that we assume they
already know. A common theme that I have often witnessed
is that conversations seem “flat and routine.” Remember,
they may be routine to us, but not to the client. The
expression “going through the motions” comes to mind every
time I hear a provider skip through homecare or reasons
why clients should keep their dental hygiene appointment.
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Oh Canada! Winter Issue - 2015
Communication Techniques...cont’d
Instead, focus on really ensuring that the client knows why
they are coming in every 3 months or 4, 6, 9, 12. Let them
know that this recommendation is based on clinical criteria
that they have met and, therefore, they should honour
their appointment interval in order to achieve an ongoing
favourable outcome.
Give the client time to absorb the information. Read their
body language and, if you feel that they might be confused,
ask them, then deliver the information again but in different
terms until they understand. Do not be fearful of some quiet
air within the appointment. Again, the information makes
complete sense to us, but takes time for the client to absorb.
BODY LANGUAGE
I
cannot stress how critical
this component is to
our success as dental
hygienists. We are in a
people business, and
reading people in order
to adapt to their needs is
essential. If you pay attention,
clients can tell you many
things without speaking if
they understand and therefore value what it is that you are
recommending. Reading body language is a skill that can
be learned.
CLINICAL
TERMINOLOGY AND
ANALOGIES
I
believe we would have
greater success if, as a
team, we decided to
translate each clinical term
we often use into “normal”
words. By normal, I mean
words that clients know
and understand. More importantly, we must communicate
within our teams about which words will be used. I am
not an advocate for a team to sound scripted, but we often
confuse our clients with multiple terms for one use within
the same appointment: “cap,” “crown,” “helmet.”
Remember to use simple visuals and analogies to describe
treatments. During your team meetings, bring these
analogies forward and share them with your team so that
you can solidify your communication with clients. Having
a coherent communication structure is effective and proves
itself with client treatment compliance.
RAPPORT
When did rapport building
become learning about
your clients’ vacations? By
definition, rapport means
“a close and harmonious
relationship in which the
people understand each
other’s feelings or ideas
and communicate well”
(Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapport). If I know where
my client is heading for their trip, yet my client doesn’t
completely understand why they are risk for periodontal
disease, then I have not done my job to build rapport.
While I am not trying to invalidate being personable, it is
more effective when the time you have with your client is
spent identifying their risk factors and meeting their needs
by creating a client-centred treatment focus. We should spend
less time “getting to know” our clients and more time having
them “get to know themselves.” Good rapport helps the
client understand why they present with risk factors and how
that can create both intraoral issues and overall health concerns.
We also risk controversy with privacy laws that are changing
the landscape in which we communicate with our clients.
STANDARD OF CARE
I once asked a dental
hygienist what criteria
are used to differentiate
between a 3-month and a
4-month client. The answer was
“What is the difference?”
Having a client-centred
standard of care in your
practice validates and helps clients to understand the need
for dental hygiene appointments in varying frequencies.
We move against our standard of care when, for example,
we schedule spouses for return visits at the same time for
convenience. If that couple meets the same criteria for
risk factors and homecare perhaps the same interval is
warranted. Arbitrarily scheduling them back at the same
time doesn’t help the clients understand why that specific
timeline was chosen for them as individuals.
Share the standard of care with your administrative
team both as a training tool and to help ensure that their
communication with clients is congruent with yours. It is
important for clients to receive consistent communication
from all team members.