QUESTIONS A COMMUNICATORS NIGHTMARE The Thalidomide Tragedy By
QUESTIONS: A COMMUNICATORS NIGHTMARE. . . The Thalidomide Tragedy By Deena Champaneria
What is communication? • A two-way process by which information i. e. in the form of an idea, image, emotion or • • • - piece of text is exchanged. This information can be conveyed through different mediums i. e. speaking or writing. There are many reasons to why we communicate i. e. in a business it may be used to maintain the workplace hierarchy but putting communication in context with this presentation The purpose of scientific communication is to allow for scientific advancement & for scientific information to be integrated into the lives of everyday individuals.
how can it be represented? In 1948, Shannon a mathematician and Weaver a scientist wrote an article titled “A Mathematical Theory of Communication”. They described a model designed to demonstrate effective communication between the source and the receiver. Outlining factors such as noise, which may disrupt the message.
Communication pathway stages Definition Thalidomide tragedy interpretation Source/sender of communication is the person or organization that has information to exchange. A German pharmaceutical company called Chemie Grünenthal. Message Encloses the information the source intends to express. In the late 1950 s a sedative named Thalidomide was first marketed. It was used for the treatment of nausea in pregnant women. Established as a result of the encoding process. Channel The manner in which the information travels from the source to the receiver. Through physicians who gave thalidomide as an off-label prescription for morning sickness. Receiver The intended audience of message. Pregnant women suffering from morning sickness A process where the receiver responds to the source's message. Approximately 10, 000 children were born with phocomelia which, lead to its ban in most countries in 1961. Decoding Noise Feedback
What went wrong? • Within a few years this “wonder drug” had gone global and approximately 10, 000 children were born with phocomelia which, lead to its ban in most countries in 1961.
Communication barriers that lead to the tragedy • Individuals “Field of Experience’ – personal experiences over a period of time. • Thalidomide was marketed in the post-war era when insomnia was common and the global population was already dependent on tranquilizers and sleeping pills. • Statistics show 1 in every 7 Brit took them on a regular basis.
Communication barriers that lead to the tragedy • Selective Perception – the receiver chooses to view and interpret based on their needs. • i. e. the sender cleverly showed how the receiver could benefit. They illustrated how an elderly man in his 70 s was cured from his insomnia without any side effects after unintentionally taking an overdose of thalidomide.
Communication barriers that lead to the tragedy • The sender has their own goals Sender filters and manipulates the information, ignoring the facts, making it more favorable to the receiver. i. e. Chemie Grünenthal threatened physicians who had reported thalidomide was dangerous and increased their advertising campaigns when reports of birth defect first began to appear.
Communication barriers that lead to the tragedy • Ignorance – the message was not decoding entirely. The pharmaceutical history of Germany was renowned for its discoveries i. e. aspirin and by 1961 within Germany thalidomide sold over 12. 4 million doses which was five times as much as its leading competitor, Doriden. These figures seemed impressive and the UK along with the rest of the world didn’t conduct any of their own trails.
Communication barriers that lead to the tragedy • Senders ignorance to acceptance i. e. even after there was a correlation between thalidomide sales and malformations the distribution of thalidomide continued.
Communication barriers that lead to the tragedy • Language & long chain communication When messages are passed through multiple receivers it increases the chances of error and the message may become distorted. i. e. Thalidomide was distributed to the worldwide market.
Communication barriers that lead to the tragedy • Sender does not have sufficient knowledge of the subject. i. e. even after thousands of babies were born with defects, clinical experiments were still failing. Researchers failed to produce these human malformations in trials. Up until a very rare breed of New Zealand rabbit and eventually some monkeys began to produce deformed offspring. However, the doses given for these results were up to 300 greater than ever given to any human.
Response feedback loop • Where the receiver informs the sender of the message. • Was the sender, Chemie Grünenthal, to blame? • There were no regulations in the Federal Republic of Germany governing the development, production or sale of medicines. • This was also reflected in the Unitied States where thalidomide hadn’t been approved for use but samples of were still distributed by physicians to their patients. As it was common for drug companies to pay doctors to test and collect data of the experimental drugs without the patients consent.
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