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Communication in Medicine and Dentistry:

As you may be aware, communication is vital in medicine, dentistry, and many other healthcare related careers. Much of your day-to-day role will be patient focused, and the success of patient’s treatment can often be affected by how well you communicate with the patient and the team around you. This is relevant to aspects such as treatment planning, team working and delivering news to patients. For example, being able to deliver treatment options to a patient isn’t as simple as reading options off a list. You must be able to talk about what each treatment option involves, as patients often will not know. You also must be able to discuss the risks, benefits and possible side effects of each. While delivering this information you must ensure you do so in an empathetic and sensitive manner, as it may be a shock to the patient. The way you communicate this information can make a massive difference in the patient’s confidence in you, and their feelings regarding the treatment. Communication is, therefore, an essential skill that is assessed extremely commonly at interviews.

Non-verbal communication and body language:

It is a common misconception that communication involves just the words you say. It is of course important to get the correct information across, however, there is so much more to communication, including non-verbal communication and body language. Examples of non-verbal communication and effective body language include:

  • Hand gestures
  • Posture
  • Eye contact
  • The direction you are facing
  • Facial expression
  • Head shaking

If you want to become a successful communicator, it is important to consider these non-verbal cues, as they can impact how you are perceived by other people. This can then impact their trust and confidence in you. Incorporating these into your demeanour can help you better portray your message and build stronger connections with the people you are communicating with. For example, if you are telling a patient information whilst looking away, it may be perceived that you don’t care or that you are not listening to their response.

Relevance to interviews:

These principles also apply to university interviews. You want to appear confident and knowledgeable to your interviewer, whilst at the same time showing enthusiasm. This is hard to convey purely through words. Many candidates underestimate the importance of body language and non-verbal communication. Sitting up straight, attempting to maintain eye contact, and smiling where appropriate during the interview can help reinforce the points you make.

It should also be considered that although this is not strictly non-verbal communication/ body language, appearance at interviews also contributes to how you are perceived. Wearing a smart outfit whilst being neatly groomed can show your seriousness about the situation, which can help portray your commitment towards the course. Combining all aspects of communication, both verbal and non-verbal, can help to boost how you are perceived by interviewers and can impact the outcome of your interview.

Practising:

Practising communication can be challenging. The first thing to do is to make sure you know what you are talking about. If you are confident in the points you make then you will subsequently appear more confident. Therefore, practice makes perfect. In terms of practising communication, the best way to practise is in your day-to-day life, with your Future Doc tutor, and at our in-person interview preparation events. You can also access further Future Doc resources online. For example, click here to read some of our general top tips for interviews. Be conscious of how you talk to friends and family and reflect on how you could improve your non-verbal communication and body language. Our trained tutors are experts in providing honest and non-biased feedback to help you improve prior to interviews. To learn more about our excellent 1 ON 1 coaching programme, click here.

Keep these points in mind when preparing for your interviews will give you the tools to succeed and you will soon be confident in communicating to the best of your ability.

Written by Holly Davidson

Future Doc