Victor Murray Outlines How Proper Communication Can Improve Treatment Outcomes

Communication starts with understanding, interacting, and engaging people before sensitive issues should be discussed, explains Victor Murray, director for care management initiatives at the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers.

Transcript

What is an example of when a provider could do a better job of explaining something so the patient better understands what is being discussed?

When you’re talking about a specific medical diagnosis or specific disease, it’s very targeted and it’s without the understanding that there are many other things at play. So many other things at play when it comes to healthcare-related issues but many things at play in just this person’s life in their totality. And so as you’re talking about diabetes there’s also a need to have a conversation about food, about food access, about proper places to store that food. If you need to store food then there’s a need for a conversation about electricity, utilities. And so those things that are also at play that affects this providers’ conversation around that very specific disease. And so I think those are the things that are very important to include when you’re talking to folks in the space.

Do you ever see patients get confused or defensive as providers ask them about non-healthcare such as food or their housing situation?

That’s a part of the conversation, right? That’s a part of understanding the individual and so obviously that’s not a conversation that you’ll just jump right into. It starts with just first understanding, who is this person? Who are you? What makes you happy? What make you tick? What makes you feel like today is worth getting up and going throughout interactions and engaging people? And so I think for us that’s where our model starts just really trying to understand the person and who they are and then from that point being able to have some of those more nuanced conversations that might touch all more sensitive issues.

How do you educate patients that the model of care from the Camden Coalition includes a team of people that is different than a traditional model of care?

So we do educate in terms of, these are the individuals that you might see from our team, these are the individuals in your healthcare network, but I think the majority of it isn’t necessary education. People feel it, so it’s through that interaction, it’s through that taking an interest in people, it’s through that not only taking an interest in them but perhaps their family, their children, and trying to understand our broader network. People are more receptive to then being willing to not just receive information but also willing to engage, in willing to make change because they feel like, you’re in this with me, you’re not just telling me what to do, you’re not just giving me educational tips or feedback, but you’re really interested in who I am. And so how can we really partner together so that we can both make progress?