Fostering trust in doctors through effective communication
With the support of the EU and UNICEF, healthcare professionals are strengthening their communication skills with citizens and the media
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PODGORICA, 1 DECEMBER 2023 – “Wash your hands before and after each meal / No need for mother to remind thee / Dirty hands make the food unclean / Illness loves a lack of hygiene.” Generations of children grew up with these verses by Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj, a notable poet, thus learning an important lesson about the importance of personal hygiene.
In 2020, coronavirus was declared a pandemic in Montenegro, as well as around the world. The importance of clean hands had to be reiterated. “Distance, hands, mask!” became a new verse in the style of Uncle Jova for a new generation of children and a new era.
Vilnerina Ramcilovic, a specialist in social medicine and the director of the Centre for Health Promotion at the Institute for Public Health, recalls that time as a period of crisis communication for everyone in Montenegro’s healthcare system.
People would be anxiously waiting for information from the highest-level healthcare representatives, which was made possible through regular press conferences and news broadcasts, because the health of citizens is always a top priority. This was a way to build trust between citizens and healthcare institutions, which was of great importance when the world faced many challenges.
The coronavirus epidemic is just one of the countless topics addressed by employees of the Institute for Public Health (IPH) and the healthcare system in general. For Vilnerina, it remains a good example showing how important it is for the voices of experts and science to be heard in public.
“When the profession and science speak, it can sometimes be hard for the general population to understand everything. In order to make the messages heard and understood, they must be communicated clearly. Effective communication, research says, is the key to the success of many public health interventions and to building trust in science and the healthcare system. That is why the EU and UNICEF provided their support in organizing training sessions for healthcare workers in this domain. Vilnerina is one of the training participants.
She is satisfied because, during the workshops, they not only listened but also actively participated in the work through practical examples.
“The importance of conveying an assertive, clear, informative message that is relevant to the target audience is constantly on my mind,” she shares some of her impressions from the training.
Health promotion is part of the everyday life of a social medicine specialist.
Health promotion is the process of empowering people to increase their control over their health and improve it.
There are many practical examples and, unfortunately, after the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in public health priorities that are competing in terms of their significance.
For example, vaccinations have come into focus as the most significant preventive public health intervention, recently gaining importance due to an increase in cases of whooping cough in November. Whooping cough is a highly infectious bacterial disease. According to the IPH, vaccination is the most effective and almost the sole preventive measure.
However, the problem of malignancies and all the effects that the pandemic had on screening programmes and all preventive activities related to malignant diseases are often forgotten.
“Breast cancer is taking the lead among newly recorded malignant tumours in Montenegrin women, with one in four malignancies discovered in women in Montenegro being breast cancer. That is why October is dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of regular preventive breast examinations, which allow the detection of breast cancer in its early stage when successful recovery is possible in the majority of cases. UNICEF’s workshops have allowed me to prepare in the best possible way, to feel more confident, to understand the needs of our citizens when it comes to communication, and to adjust my communication activities to be more receptive and clearer to everyone. By marking “Pink October”, the Institute for Public Health has taken another significant step towards empowering the community and promoting prevention and screening programmes, serving as a reminder for women that they should take care regarding their health throughout the year and regularly attend breast examinations,” Ramcilovic says.
With the support of the EU and UNICEF, three additional training sessions for frontline healthcare workers on interpersonal communication with parents related to immunization will be held in December. A smaller number of selected medical experts will also learn about communication skills in public debates.
