Foundational Skills for Communicating About Health
Effective communication is a core skill that nearly every health professional will need and use during their careers. Yet, few health professionals receive even basic training in how to design communications to be clear and successful. As “foundational skills,” the content in this course can be applied to both oral and written communication, within and beyond health.
Learners will develop the skills to: analyze and tailor a communication effort for different audiences, develop clear messages, create logical and compelling stories, understand and apply important considerations with language as well as nonverbal communication.
This course is valuable and appropriate for both beginning and experienced health professionals who need to communicate effectively with other professionals, patients, policymakers, or the broader public.. Content is relevant to public health professionals, clinicians of all types (medical, nursing, dentists, social work, etc.), health advocates, and scientists and researchers in any health domain..
Status: Goal Setting
Goal Setting
Status: Verbal Communication Skills
Verbal Communication Skills
Beginner·Course·15 hours
Featured reviews
5.0
·Reviewed May 17, 2023
This class gave me so many useful tips! Thank you for the excellent instruction and the thoughtful way the class was organized. I cannot say enough good things about this instructor. Well done.
5.0
·Reviewed Feb 5, 2023
Excellent course and excellent instructor. What I learned in this class will remain with me and will be considered every time I write anything!
5.0
·Reviewed Jul 28, 2021
Found it valuable, explained clearly and in simple terms
5.0
·Reviewed May 17, 2021
A great course that helps simplify messages for complicated topics.
5.0
·Reviewed Apr 5, 2020
Dr Brian is an excellent teacher with precise and discrete ideas amalgamated together so well to get an overall core of the communication skills was way too easier and clear. Thank you so much.
5.0
·Reviewed Jun 27, 2021
It is a well designed course and has helped us understand the basics and structuring required for Health Communication
5.0
·Reviewed Jun 23, 2021
Very well executed... Core message, inverted triangle model, ABT. ...Thank You very much Dr.Brian
4.0
·Reviewed Aug 9, 2023
Time and availability friendly.Faculty teaches fluently.
5.0
·Reviewed Jun 18, 2021
thank you very much for this skills gain course,this course is very helpful to increase my communicating skills.a lot of thanks to instructer and team coursera.thank you very much.
5.0
·Reviewed Sep 11, 2021
I have learned a lot in this course. It is not boring because they provide not only readings but also video. Thank you so much!
All reviews
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M
M
5.0
·Reviewed Nov 8, 2019
This was honestly the best MOOc I attended until now. I feel it will have direct implications on my career. It had clear messages and enough examples and assignments to allow you to practice what you learn.
C
Chukwudi
5.0
·Reviewed May 28, 2020
AWESOME. THANKS A LOT
L
Leanne
3.0
·Reviewed Jul 22, 2020
The course is good, peer reviews are not if they count toward final score. Peer reviews are too variable to mean much.
A
Alberto
5.0
·Reviewed Apr 6, 2020
It was great, give me a lot of new and easy skills, I complete recommend this course for all kind of professionals
B
BANGURA
5.0
·Reviewed Mar 14, 2022
I have gained a lot from this course. I learnt ideas in this course that I did not learn during my four-years as a journalism student in my undergraduate. I am grateful. Thank you,Prof.
I deeply enjoyed the practical session on how to present a message with consistency from 1 minute,30 seconds and 8 seconds.
You made me actualized my dream of earning a certficate in Health Communication. Thank you.
This course will help you build real-life
communication skills. An amazing instructor will help you to communicate clear
messages in a more effective way through a curriculum that is well organized, easy-to-follow and constantly interesting.
S
Smita
5.0
·Reviewed Jun 13, 2021
It was an amazing course to learn from the experienced faculty.I am glad that i had made the right choice.I am a Researcher in Service Marketing in Public Health domain and i am sure it will be helpful in my Phd work. Thank you
V
Vinit
5.0
·Reviewed Apr 6, 2020
Dr Brian is an excellent teacher with precise and discrete ideas amalgamated together so well to get an overall core of the communication skills was way too easier and clear. Thank you so much.
M
MaryAnne
5.0
·Reviewed Feb 6, 2023
Excellent course and excellent instructor. What I learned in this class will remain with me and will be considered every time I write anything!
C
Christien
5.0
·Reviewed Sep 12, 2021
I have learned a lot in this course. It is not boring because they provide not only readings but also video. Thank you so much!
P
Priya
5.0
·Reviewed May 5, 2020
Very helpful!
I
Iram
4.0
·Reviewed Oct 31, 2022
The skills taught in this course are very reliable and practical. Although most of the assignments include health related subjects, but the scope of the course encompasses many different fields.
The instructor Brian has really made a difficult and vast topic understandable for many strata by breaking it into small chunks, full of practical examples.
I give it 4/5 only because the assignments sometimes felt very tedious to complete; going through lengthy research article full of jargons, to make them understand and communicate in brief simple languages. But they might be fun for a lot & a challenge for the others.
G
GHADEER
4.0
·Reviewed Oct 31, 2022
It was a very interesting and informative experience. I would love to enrol in more courses given by the same instructor. I highly recommend this course for anyone who wants to start learning about parts of the communication process that we need in the healthcare field. Thank you for all the efforts put into constructing this course, and looking for more in the future. All the best!
D
DEBOTRI
4.0
·Reviewed Jun 23, 2021
Interesting and insightful.
N
Nicole
3.0
·Reviewed Dec 16, 2019
I loved the Half Life practice - the rest was a bit redundant for me and my background - that is not to say it is irrelevant for others
J
Joy
2.0
·Reviewed Dec 19, 2023
I really do not believe that peer graded assignments should determine whether or not someone receives a certificate. Some of the writing that I have reviewed has been subpar. I think I have been critiqued harshly by my peers for providing an honest assessment.
M
Mariana
5.0
·Reviewed Feb 15, 2021
Professor Brian Zikmund-Fisher does a great justice to what we I expected from the course. Simple, yet very interesting. Practical and, honestly, useful in many other scenarios outside the Healthcare world. This is the sort of course most of us should have been exposed to, during University years. Hope an more intermediate level course comes soon.
A
Angeline
5.0
·Reviewed Mar 12, 2025
Extremely practical! This course has been so helpful in building my confidence as a new medical writer, and I appreciated how thoughtful and useful all the assignments and exercises were. Also appreciated how passionate and committed the instructor, Brian, was. An excellent experience!
R
Reagan
5.0
·Reviewed Apr 27, 2026
This class is excellent. Not only does the professor teach you necessary skills for any proper communication, but he uses these skills in each lesson to make it easier to understand. He really took this class to the next level, and I very much appreciate it.
P
Paola
5.0
·Reviewed Apr 12, 2025
Didáctico, permite hacer una autoevaluación y reconocer errores frecuentes que cometemos y darnos cuenta que a veces tenemos que estructurar un poco más nuestra forma de comunicar si es que queremos que el mensaje llegue al receptor.