As a Medical Assistant, understanding diversity and using a teamwork approach is critical not only for the medical practice you work in but also for attaining the common goal of quality patient care. Working together provides opportunities for creativity, efficiency, and excellent patient experiences.

This week, you will research various techniques in incorporating good communication and diversity into your interactions with your coworkers. You will create a summary that you will incorporate into the training manual. This summary will illustrate various ways to demonstrate teamwork through the understanding of effective communication and relate how diversity plays a vital role in an efficient and effective practice.

To complete this assignment, do the following:

1. Research how diversity plays an important role in healthcare and how proper communication techniques facilitate teamwork, increase productivity, and help offer better patient care in a healthcare setting. Use a minimum of 3 credible sources* in your research and include a variety of resources, such as scholarly journal articles, magazines, newspapers, or web resources. Two of your resources must be academic/scholarly resources, such as a book or an academic scholarly journal. Academic scholarly journals can be accessed through the Rasmussen Online Library. Cite these resources throughout your summary and include a reference page. Use proper APA formatting for your citations and references. For help with formatting your references and citations, see the APA guide.

1. In a minimum of 3 pages (excluding the reference page), include the following information to assist new employees in understanding effective communication methods and the importance of diversity within a healthcare team:
   • Communication
     • Communication and Productivity: Explain how communication can increase productivity.
     • Communication and Morale: Explain how good and bad communication can affect morale.
     • Overcoming Communication Barriers in the Workplace: Identify the biggest communication barrier a Medical Assistant can face with a coworker that would hinder patient care. Explain ways to overcome that barrier. Choose the best method for the situation and explain why this method is best.
   • Teamwork
     • Teamwork Communication Strategies: Describe teamwork communication strategies.
     • Assisting Coworkers: Name at least 5 tasks that coworkers can do for each other to help the daily practice run smoothly.
   • Diversity and Teamwork
     • Importance of Awareness of and Respect for Diversity: Explain why it is important for Medical Assistants to be aware and respectful of diversity in a healthcare setting.
     • Incorporating Diverse Practice Methods: Explain how to incorporate diverse practice methods and ideas between coworkers while remaining respectful of their work practices and mindful of the goal of providing effective and efficient patient care.
     • Tailoring Communication: Describe how Medical Assistants may have to tailor their communication in working with professionals of various titles, such as physicians, peers, and receptionists.

1. Use clear, professional language with proper grammar and punctuation. Present your information at a level of detail that is appropriate for new Medical Assistants and feel free to use images, tables, or diagrams as necessary to help you convey your information.

*A note about credible sources: Credible sources are reliable, accurate, and trustworthy. These sources are written by authors respected in their fields of study. You want to identify sources where the author of the article is listed, if they’ve referenced other information, the sources should be cited so that you can check for the accuracy of and support what they have written. Wikipedia is not considered a credible source