- active listening
 - when someone listens by giving their full attention, listening to understand, and providing thoughtful input
 
- assertiveness
 - showing confidence in oneself
 
- bias
 - prejudice for or against a person or group compared to another group
 
- channel
 - the mode in which the communication is sent
 
- communication
 - the sharing of ideas and thoughts among people
 
- courtesy
 - the practice of being polite, respectful, and considerate
 
- cultural barrier
 - a mental limitation or block about other cultures
 
- culturally competent care
 - meeting and respecting a patient’s social, cultural, and linguistic needs while providing care
 
- electronic communication
 - all communication transmitted electronically
 
- electronic health record (EHR)
 - a digital format of a complete medical record of a patient that is able to be shared across multiple healthcare organizations
 
- electronic medical record (EMR)
 - a digital format of a patient’s medical chart specific to a single medical facility or practice
 
- emotional barrier
 - a mental limitation or block that influences how others’ actions are perceived
 
- emotional intelligence (EI)
 - the capacity to control and express emotions
 
- empathy
 - the ability for one person to understand and share the feelings of another person
 
- engage
 - active listening, with nonverbal communication, asking for feedback when necessary
 
- false reassurance
 - giving comfort that is not based in facts
 
- feedback
 - the response given by a receiver to a sender
 
- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA)
 - a federal law creating the national standards to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed
 
- health literacy
 - the ability of a patient to understand and use information to make health-related decisions
 
- implicit bias
 - unconscious prejudice
 
- interactional model
 - communication as a two-way process that allows for feedback, and a person alternates as both sender and receiver
 
- interdisciplinary
 - relating to more than one branch of knowledge
 
- interpersonal barrier
 - negative pattern of behavior that hinders communication and impacts relationship management
 
- interpersonal communication
 - exchange of information between two or more people
 
- intrapersonal communication
 - exchange of information with oneself
 
- listening
 - the ability to thoughtfully receive and interpret messages
 
- message
 - the information to be conveyed or communicated
 
- motivational interviewing (MI)
 - an evidence-based counseling approach that involves discussing feelings and incentives with a patient
 
- nontherapeutic communication
 - negative expressions, attitudes, and actions that make a patient feel uneasy
 
- nonverbal communication
 - exchange of information without the use of words; with facial expressions, posture, eye contact, gestures, and physical touch
 
- offering self
 - contributing support by being present or spending time with a patient
 
- passive listening
 - when someone listens to simply hear the messages being sent but may not be mentally or emotionally present and does not engage in the communication process
 
- perceptual barrier
 - internal bias that influences the way an individual perceives others
 
- physical barrier
 - tangible external or internal obstruction to communication
 
- public communication
 - exchange of information between any size audience
 
- receiver
 - the person who receives the message and interprets it
 
- referent communication
 - the use of faces and objects in the place of words during communication encounters
 
- reflective thinking
 - the practice of reviewing past communication experiences
 
- resolution
 - determination of an act that depends on both parties agreeing to an outcome
 
- self-awareness
 - being able to recognize and understand one’s own emotions
 
- self-management
 - the ability to control impulsive feelings and behaviors
 
- semantic noise
 - type of communication barrier that occurs when the sender and receiver of a message have different understandings of the meanings of words, phrases, symbols, or language in general
 
- sender
 - the person who initiates a message
 
- small-group communication
 - exchange of information between three or more people
 
- SMART goal
 - an acronym for goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely
 
- social awareness
 - an understanding of the strong emotions one might encounter as part of their experiences and how they can empathize with others
 
- social/relationship management
 - building and maintaining good relationships with empathy and patience as the tenets of those relationships
 
- stereotype
 - an oversimplified image of certain people or group
 
- therapeutic communication
 - a specialized form of communication used by healthcare professionals to establish a therapeutic or healing relationship with patients
 
- transactional model
 - a two-way process of communication where the sending and receiving of messages happen simultaneously
 
- transmission model
 - a one-way, linear process of communication
 
- verbal communication
 - the production of spoken language to send to a listener
 
- visual communication
 - using visual elements to create messages or impart information
 
- written communication
 - any written message, from formal letters to text messages