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TONI S.ADAMS RDH, MA Sonicare RDH 2009 Mentor of the Year
PHILOSOPHY & GOALS “Communication skills…help you address the art of medicine, which helps you practice the science of medicine, so that the business of medicine can support your art and science.” Desmond & Copeland, 2000 I strive to assist dental professionals with communication issues, especially in regards to culture. Communication has always been a key component in the delivery of health care. Before the advent of modern medicine, it was often all a practitioner had to offer. Today it is central to the patient-provider relationship as well as to patient motivation, cooperation, satisfaction, and health outcomes. Competent communicators are better able to understand patients’ views and thus deliver individualized, patient-centered, and evidence-based dental care. Dental professionals who can elicit and share accurate and complete information excel at understanding and collaborating with patients to determine mutually agreed upon plans for care. Though the melting pot metaphor is passé, the United States has been variously referred to as a cultural stew, salad bowl, tapestry, quilt, and mosaic. No matter how it is put, we are and always have been a diverse nation. Heterogeneity is our heritage but such cultural diversity creates communication challenges. This is certainly true in the delivery of healthcare where miscommunication can impact quality of life and even literally make the difference between life and death. These issues are especially relevant today when knowledge about the relationships between oral and general health continues to expand. My goal in writing and speaking is to assist dental professionals to enhance their overall communication competence and especially their cultural and linguistic competencies.