Barriers and enablers to communication

Understanding barriers and enablers to communication will facilitate better communication in the paramedic’s work life. It is important to understand how certain factors can prohibit effective communication and by understanding these factors, a paramedic can try and circumvent these barriers. Conversely, by understanding the enablers of communication, a paramedic can use this knowledge to streamline the communication process. Use of knowledge of these communication factors will help the paramedic communicate more effectively, as they become essentially solutions to the communication problem. Though Levinson, Lesser, & Epstein (2010) do not explore the use of communication techniques in paramedicine, they do explore it within the health field. They state that there is a growing recognition for the education and training of health care professionals in non-technical skills such as communication. They identified what the patients understood to be barriers in the communication during their treatment and stress that it is important for health care professionals to be aware of these barriers in order to overcome them. Teaching health care professionals these communication skills will give them the knowledge to improve their communication. This is important as effective communication does improve clinical outcomes (Levinson, Lesser, & Epstein, 2010). Reflecting and teaching one’s self about communication factors will help improve your knowledge and help improve communication.