[Professional communication in long term health care quality].
OBJECTIVE
To Identify aspects of professional communication that affect the quality of long-term care for patients with chronic illness or disabilities and their families, in the experience of health professionals, as input for the development of an assessment tool.


METHODS
Descriptive qualitative.The data was processed by performing an interpretative analysis from grounded theory. The participants included 12 health professionals (three doctors, three nurses, three therapists and three psychologists), who work at the Hospital of the Universidad de La Sabana, Chia, and other institutions in Bogota, Colombia,with more than five years experience in programs treating chronic disease or disability in hospital therapeutic contexts. Semi-structured interviews and a Delphi survey were used. Validation strategies included, theoretical sampling, script evaluation by judges, triangulation of data collection techniques, and interviewers.


RESULTS
We defined specific aspects of professional communication that could optimize the quality of health care, in information management as well as in the relationships with patients and families. From these aspects, an explanatory matrix was designed with axes, categories, and codes as a support for the construction of tools.


CONCLUSIONS
Health communication, in order to become a therapeutic support element, requires professional training in communication skills to give information in an understandable way, with emotional support and coping possibilities. It should include and involve the family in decision making.
Psicología Clínica y de Familia, Grupo Contexto y Crisis, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de La Sabana, Chía, Cundinamarca, Colombia. Electronic address: mario.martin1@unisabana.edu.co.
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Martín Padilla
Departamento de Bioética, Universidad Sacro Cuore, Roma, Grupo Kheyron, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de La Sabana, Chía, Cundinamarca, Colombia.
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Sarmiento Medina
Psicología Clínica y de Familia, Clínica Universidad de La Sabana, Chía, Cundinamarca, Colombia.
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Ramírez Jaramillo
D003142:Communication; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000592:standards*; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011787:Quality of Health Care
Calidad de la atención de la salud; Comunicación en salud; Cuidado a largo plazo; Health communication, Long-term care; Professional practice; Professional-patient relationships; Práctica profesional; Quality of health care; Relaciones profesional-paciente