Trivium Patient Communication Skills 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which communication barrier is MOST likely to occur when a healthcare worker uses medical jargon with a patient?
- Cultural insensitivity
- Lack of patient trust
- Patient misunderstanding of health information (Correct answer)
- Violation of patient confidentiality
Correct answer: Patient misunderstanding of health information
Medical jargon is unfamiliar to most patients and leads to misunderstanding of instructions, diagnoses, or treatment plans.
Question 2: A healthcare worker paraphrases a patient's statement back to them. This technique is called:
- Clarification
- Reflection (Correct answer)
- Summarizing
- Confrontation
Correct answer: Reflection
Reflection involves restating the patient's message in the clinician's own words to confirm understanding and show empathy.
Question 3: Proxemics in healthcare communication refers to:
- The tone and volume of a clinician's voice
- The physical distance maintained during interactions (Correct answer)
- The use of touch to comfort patients
- Written communication styles in medical records
Correct answer: The physical distance maintained during interactions
Proxemics is the study of personal space, and maintaining appropriate distance is critical to patient comfort and therapeutic rapport.
Question 4: The 'teach-back' method is used to:
- Train new healthcare workers in communication skills
- Verify that a patient has understood discharge instructions (Correct answer)
- Teach patients new clinical procedures
- Review prior medical history with returning patients
Correct answer: Verify that a patient has understood discharge instructions
Teach-back asks patients to explain information back in their own words, confirming comprehension and identifying gaps.
Question 5: A patient from a culture where direct eye contact is considered disrespectful avoids looking at the clinician. The healthcare worker should:
- Insist on eye contact to establish trust
- Document the patient as non-compliant
- Recognize this as a cultural norm and adjust expectations (Correct answer)
- Refer the patient to a culturally matched provider immediately
Correct answer: Recognize this as a cultural norm and adjust expectations
Cultural competence requires recognizing that communication norms vary and adjusting one's own expectations accordingly.
Question 6: Which type of nonverbal communication involves facial expressions, gestures, and posture?
- Paralanguage
- Kinesics (Correct answer)
- Haptics
- Chronemics
Correct answer: Kinesics
Kinesics refers to body language including facial expressions, gestures, and posture that convey meaning during communication.
Question 7: A patient asks a healthcare worker not to share their diagnosis with their spouse. The worker should:
- Inform the spouse because family involvement improves outcomes
- Honor the patient's request in accordance with HIPAA privacy rights (Correct answer)
- Document the refusal and escalate to a supervisor
- Advise the patient that spouses are automatically authorized to receive information
Correct answer: Honor the patient's request in accordance with HIPAA privacy rights
HIPAA grants competent adult patients the right to control who receives their protected health information.
Trivium Patient Communication Skills 3
Which communication barrier is MOST likely to occur when a healthcare worker uses medical jargon with a patient?