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Introduction: This paper reports on research conducted within a Hong Kong (HK) accident and emergency department (AED), which investigated the effectiveness of health care worker-patient communication over the course of patients' journeys from triage to disposition. Methods: The research combined qualitative and quantitative ethnographic methods with linguistically-oriented discourse analysis of audiotaped interactions between patients and health care workers. It involved: (1) observations, (2) semi-structured interviews with management and health care workers, (3) surveys with AED staff, (4) audio-recordings of 10 patients' journeys, and (5) follow-up interviews with patients. Results: The paper described the typically complex communication networks involved in AED care. It then exemplified how certain communicative strategies, balancing the communication of medical knowledge with interpersonal communication, could be used to achieve positive healthcare outcomes. This was illustrated by a case study of one patient's journey through the AED, pinpointing health care workers' effective use of communication strategies, their effect on the patient's participation and subsequently the patient's understanding and evaluation of the care he received. Conclusion: The high stress nature of AEDs inevitably poses challenges to communication. The results of this study, however, strongly suggest a correlation between health care workers' use of effective, interpersonally sensitive communication strategies and positive patient outcomes. Health care worker-patient communication that effectively balances interpersonal communication with the communication of medical expertise is integral to ensuring patients' participation in, understanding of, and satisfaction with their healthcare. These communication strategies should be required components in health care worker communication training.

In this article, we report findings from the first qualitatively driven study of patient–clinician communication in Hong Kong Accident and Emergency Departments (AEDs). In light of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority’s policy emphasis on patient-centered care and communication in the public hospitals it oversees, we analyze clinicians’ perceptions of the role and relevance of patient-centered communication strategies in emergency care. Although aware of the importance of effective communication in emergency care, participants discussed how this was frequently jeopardized by chronic understaffing, patient loads, and time pressures. This was raised in relation to the absence of spoken interdisciplinary handovers, the tendency to downgrade interpersonal communication with patients, and the decline in staff attendance at communication training courses. Participants’ frequent descriptions of patient-centered communication as dispensable from, and time-burdensome in, AEDs highlight a discrepancy between the stated Hong Kong Hospital Authority policy of patient-centered care and the reality of contemporary Hong Kong emergency practice.

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Hospice professionals are aware of the difficult transition that occurs when patients and their loved ones arrive at the end stages of metastatic cancer and desire to reach the end of life in their home. However, the actual practice of caring for someone who is dying at home requires specific skills and support from those trained in end-of-life care.

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