A Guide to Managing Atypical Communication in Healthcare: Meaningful Conversations in Challenging Consultations

This book presents a supportive and practical guide for healthcare professionals ​and trainees in a way that considers a wide spectrum of atypical communication conditions, their impact on everyday healthcare interactions, and the social and cultural contexts in which interactions with atypical communicators take place.

A growing number of patients have been reporting atypical capacity for communication, creating unique challenges for healthcare professionals and patients in forming meaningful clinical interactions. In this book, leading international scholars from a range of healthcare professions provide insight into optimal management for those with atypical communication conditions. This includes speech, language, and hearing impairments. Chapters provide optimal management strategies, case examples, clinical recommendations, and recommended resources relevant for a range of healthcare professionals. The first collection of its kind, this book supports inter-professional practices and serves as a useful guide for those with an interest in clinical communication, and communication and diversity.

This book will be a valuable resource for health and mental healthcare professionals as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students in healthcare and allied healthcare courses. It can be included as recommended reading material in clinical communication curricula.

Riya Elizabeth George, BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, PGCAP, SFHEA, is an associate professor/reader in clinical communication & diversity education at Queen Mary University, London. Riya is a creative and committed medical educationalist, academic, and health psychologist working at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, and has extensive and varied experience in leading innovations in how healthcare students and professionals can be taught diversity to ensure they deliver high quality care to a range of patients and understand how their own perspectives may influence the care they provide.

Michelle O’Reilly, BSc (Hons), MSc, MA, PhD, PGCAPHE, SFHEA, is an associate professor of communication in mental health at the University of Leicester, Leicester. She is a research consultant and quality improvement advisor for Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust. Michelle is also a chartered health psychologist with an interest in child and adolescent mental health research.