Clinician Patient Communications

Clinician Patient Communications

Since 2011 the Communications Sub-committee of the Humanization of Care Committee (HOC), with the support of the Users Committee, has been hosting workshops to help improve communication between healthcare providers and patients and their families. This initiative uses resources from the  Institute for Healthcare Communication Canada to conduct professional workshops four times a year for healthcare providers and staff.

These workshops include:

• Clinician Patient Communication to Enhance Health Outcomes
• Treating Patients with C.A.R.E.
• Strangers in Crisis

Participants learn to:

• Communicate more effectively with patients by engaging and educating them, providing empathy and enlisting their help in their care.
• Improve diagnostic accuracy, patient decision-making and adherence to prescribed medications and therapies.
• Save time and decrease stress levels for healthcare providers as well as for patients and their families through improved communication techniques.

Family Medicine physicians and nurses earn Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits for taking part in these workshops. The feedback from workshop participants has been excellent. Participants have learned about the importance of effective communication in healthcare, and they have discovered ways to improve their skills.

The HOC Communication project is one element of a three-pronged campaign at the JGH to enhance communication for the benefit of patients. The other elements are Speak Up!, which encourages patient-to-clinician communication, and ErroMed, which focuses on clinician-to-clinician communication. Speak Up! and ErroMed are initiatives of the JGH’s Quality Program.

Contact

For more information regarding the Communication workshops, please contact Estelle Kalfon, Co-Chair of the HOC Communications Sub-committee with Vivian Konigsberg, at 514-340-8222, ext. 2877.