health- definintional

As we have seen throughout this class so far, communication can take place in many different settings and falls into many different categories. When dealing with health communication, there are five categories of communication that can be used. According to Corcoran, these five categories are intrapersonal, interpersonal, organizational, community, and public/mass communication. It may seem surprising that this many types of communication can be used in one broad category of communication, such as health communication. However, it is actually quite easy to picture. 

Imagine any health facility, such as the Boys Town Research Hospital. Lets say you go there because you think your allergies are getting worse and your pre-prescribed prescription is no longer working. After the doctor examines you, he or she must use intrapersonal communication. Using this internal communication, he or she must think to his or herself what medication or treatment would be best in the given situation. He or she must way the pros and cons of the treatment they decide on. Once the doctor has developed a plan, he or she will then portray interpersonal communication, or communication on a personal level. This is seen when the doctor presents his or her findings and diagnosis. This is where you may be presented with a new prescription or told why your old one is currently not working well. 

 Because many doctors work in a family practice or large hospital, before the doctor presents you your diagnosis through interpersonal communication, he may use organizational communication with his colleagues. In this form of communication, your doctor may explain your symptoms and his findings to the rest of the doctors in his practice to make sure they agree with his diagnosis. Another form of organizational communication that may occur, even before the doctors see patients, is the establishment of rules and guidelines on how to act, treat, and decide on a diagnosis. With the help of this organizational communication, the doctors should always be on the same path as each other. 

If you went in to see your doctor about your allergies and he interpersonally communicates to you that your prescription was filled incorrectly with different medication, this may call for community communication. The family practice or hospital may put out a local, public announcement recalling your specific prescription. Even though no harm was done by the incorrect prescription, they want to make sure everyone who is supposed to be taking that prescription is actually taking THAT prescription. 

In larger cases, other than allergy medicines and more similar to an epidemic of some sort, the doctors would have to take certain precautions and use mass communication. In this case, they would have to notify people nationally of the epidemic and what people should do to avoid it or help control it. It is obvious that health communication involves several other types of communication. Since doctors are responsible for their patient's health, good communication is really important when it comes to health.