The Challenge of Complexity

From the complexity of individual illnesses to the complexity of diverse structures, poli­cies, and providers, the challenge of shar­ing, integrating, and coordinating knowledge and medical information is overwhelming.

With medical advances, people are liv­ing longer, revealing new and more com­plex illnesses. This leads to greater need for collaborative health care teams, as well as for more intergenerational and intercultural conversations among providers and patients. Changes in the institutions with which health care organizations interact are also likely to change, as health care reforms (e.g., insurance, medical malpractice) continue to be debated and adopted.

While the scholarly works described in this chapter are often limited by small sam­ples, a focus on a singular relationship or party, and are heavily contextualized, these studies highlight the need for health care pro­viders and patients to develop a sophisticated repertoire of interpersonal skills that includes reading others’ needs and self-monitoring. They also point to the important role for hos­pital administrators in creating a culture that values the professional contributions of all medical providers, acknowledges the role of the patient, and commits resources to conflict management. Communication scholars are well poised to make an important contribu­tion to the needs of health care providers and patients by continuing research to identify key factors across contexts and samples, evaluating the effectiveness of conflict train­ing programs and interventions, and develop­ing more sophisticated conceptualizations of effective communication to enhance theoreti­cal development and expand the applicability of practical recommendations for conflict management in health care.

Note

1. The term provider is used here to refer to doc­tors, nurses, physician assistants, technicians, therapists, and other professionals who pro­vide direct care to patients.