The Institute for Healthcare Communication – Canada (IHC-C) is a non-profit organization enhancing the quality of healthcare by improving communication through education, advocacy, and research. The institute works with healthcare organizations to provide educational opportunities for clinicians and other healthcare staff so they can develop the communication skills they need to be effective.
IHC-C faculty members deliver training to local staff. Alternatively, IHC-C can deliver a Train the Trainer (Faculty) course, so that faculty can lead and facilitate workshops in the healthcare facilities in their own geographical area.
Workshop: Disclosing Unanticipated Medical Outcomes
Discover how to re-establish trust and rapport after a patient safety incident.
Clinicians and staff need to communicate effectively when patients and families are disappointed with the outcome of care. This requires understanding what caused the patient safety incident, and how the patient and family feel and think about it, and then responding in a timely and empathic manner.
Improving how clinicians and organizations disclose unanticipated patient safety incidents has significant benefits.
Research and experience suggest that the clinician's and organization's abilities to effectively respond to the patient and family's concerns and emotions can reduce the likelihood that the situation will escalate to more contentious legal processes.
Where financial compensation is appropriate, the odds of reaching some equitable resolution without enormous legal expenses are greatly enhanced when clinicians and organizations respond effectively after the patient safety incident.
Clinicians, patients, and families are able to acknowledge, forgive, and move on with less emotional distress when the process of working through patient safety incidents is handled sensitively, ethically, and equitably.
The workshop addresses each aspect of the communication process using lecture, video examples, small group practice, and discussion. Participants identify and practise the most effective ways of responding both empathically and non-defensively. Participants will better understand organizational, ethical, and risk management aspects of disclosure, and they will practise communication skills.
Workshop: half day or full day
Situation Manager Workshop: 1 ½ days
Faculty Course: 3 days
