Navigating Communication Challenges in Clinical Practice: A New Approach to Team Education

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Education
• Interprofessional Communication
• Workplace Well-being

Background:

• Workplace communication challenges significantly impact healthcare staff well-being and patient outcomes.
• Previous interventions have primarily focused on organizational factors and work-life balance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility of monthly interdisciplinary educational rounds.
• To support clinicians in navigating workplace clinical and communication challenges.
• To promote interprofessional teamwork and self-care among healthcare professionals.

Main Methods:

• The Program to Enhance Relational and Communication Skills involved voluntary, monthly hour-long sessions for inter-professional clinicians.
• Participants were from critical care, cardiac catheterization, and intermediate care units in a pediatric tertiary care hospital.
• Feasibility was measured by attendance, and program value was assessed via post-intervention questionnaires.

Main Results:

• 1156 clinicians participated between April 2010 and December 2016, with nurses forming the largest group (56%).
• 92% of participants found the program "quite valuable" or "very valuable."
• Topics of high interest included child assent, bereavement, social media, and workplace bullying.

Conclusions:

• The educational rounds approach is relevant, user-friendly, and feasible for addressing communication and workplace challenges.
• Clinicians learn interprofessionally in real-time to tackle difficult topics.
• Further efforts are needed to translate program learning into actual clinical practice changes.