Presentation

Throughout the past week and a half, there seemed to be a common trend within the content or orientation of our presentations, as I guess there should be considering the assignment. Though I had never thought of it this way before, communication issues are caused almost exclusively by lack of communicational common ground. Whether the issue was doctors and patients speaking different languages, doctors not simplifying explanations, or, in my case, engineering firms not being able to exchange information due to differing data systems, the problem was a lack of unity and/or cooperation between parties.

The solutions to the problems varied, however, depending on the field. For instance, in medicine the solution to doctors speaking a different language was a translator, rather than one of the individuals learning the other’s language. In the case of engineering, the solutions proposed relied largely on a common data format in order to create a more seamless transition from organization to organization. Solutions to medical terminology issues, both for medical doctors and psychologists, were not quite so defined. It seemed that the responsibility lay primarily on the physician to accommodate the patient’s vocabulary, however the point at which it is the patients responsibility to have some knowledge of the subject at hand seemed slightly undefined. I don’t find this to be the fault of the presenters or researchers, but rather the nature of the problem, as it is difficult to assign accountability to either the doctor or the patient. The ideal solution seems to be a less defined, and therefore less sustainable, version of the solution to the problems in engineering; each party would meet at a common point of communication in order to exchange information effectively.

Unfortunately, while teaching doctors how to talk on a patients level is a reasonable task, expecting all patients to have a standard level of understanding is ridiculous and unattainable. Therefore, the responsibility inevitably falls upon the doctor, as perhaps it should. In these cases, the solution depends on the competencies of one, both, or neither of two communicating parties, and varies based on the realistic cooperation between them.