Effective Communicators Apply their Reading, Speaking, Writing, and Listening Skills to Communicate Effectively

            In this reflection I will discuss our unit on professionalism in the medical setting as well as how it helped me to showcase my ability as an effective communicator.  As a class we decided that professionalism means many things such as: teamwork, attitude, communication, honesty, punctuality, and many more.  I believe however, that attitude, communication, and honesty are three very important characteristics when it comes to working in a medical setting.  I have likewise learned how to use innovative websites and programs in this unit.  Along with new computer skills, I also gained some abilities that will help me with employment later in life.

            Attitude is critical in a medical setting.  Most residents do not want to be there, and if you have a negative attitude it won’t make them feel any improvment about their situation and less likely to cooperate.  However, if you have a positive attitude it may help the resident relax and be more cooperative and helpful.  A positive attitude can also make the work environment more pleasant for you and your coworkers.  This makes work more enjoyable for everyone.

            Communication is also vital in the medical setting.  If you do not communicate with your coworkers thoroughly, many issues can arise.  For one thing, if you don’t write down and report a medication that you gave a resident, someone else might give them a second dose which could be catastrophic.  Another example would be if a resident tells you something is wrong and you don’t report it, something might happen and it could be too late to resolve the issue.  Good communication helps make things run more efficiently and smoothly.

            Honesty is important anywhere not just in the medical setting.  In the medical setting though, if you make an error it needs to be reported so there aren’t any side effects that might affect a resident.  You also need to be honest and let someone know if you are not proficient in certain abilities so that you aren’t operating on a resident uncertain or unskilled.  Honesty is crucial in a medical workplace.

            These aspects of professionalism can also help in school on top of later in life after I graduate.  Having a positive attitude is always good in school and can eventually help me get and keep a job.  It is very important to be able to communicate concisely with teachers and employers in order to clearly get my ideas and questions across.  Honesty will be moral forever in any setting and permits you to gain trust from anyone with which you interact.

            In this unit I learned how to use fresh resources on the computer in order to enhance my information as well as demonstrate the material concisely.  We learned how to use the website bubbl.us to create a mind map of the many aspects of professionalism.  We were also introduced to a website called visuwords.com.  This website makes finding definitions to words stress-free and goes beyond the average definitions by showing relations between words.  You also learn synonyms to words and what those mean.  We used Microsoft Publisher to show our skill at communicating concisely.  In Publisher we created a pamphlet to showcase three aspects of professionalism that we thought were the most important in the medical setting.  Since a trifold pamphlet doesn’t allow ample space for text, I had to learn how to fit adequate information into a small, enclosed region.

            The professionalism unit has given me a skill that is included on the list of 21^st Century Skills for Success.  This skill is: Effective communicators apply their reading, speaking, writing, and listening skills to communicate effectively.  I have learned to effectively communicate in a concise manner.  I validate this ability by using new media forms such as Publisher, in order to convey my ideas and information in a clear, easily understandable way.  This will aid me in creating a project for any of my classes at school.  It will also help after I graduate by permitting me to communicate well with future employers, coworkers, and customers that I may interrelate with in life.

            As a class we discovered numerous things about professionalism throughout this unit.  I learned that attitude, communication, and honesty are aspects of professionalism critical in a medical setting.  I also learned how to use new websites and software and improved my technical literacy.  This has also helped me become a better, more effective communicator, which will help me later in life.