2.1.a Module Overview and Objectives

Module 2: Communication

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What an exceptional experience that was, a privileged, professional but also personal [experience]… I had the best care, the absolute best care… What I saw was how well the home birth midwives… the ambulance, the hospital, and the after-care… they all worked so professionally amongst each other to give me and my baby the best care."
- Mother, after transfer from planned home birth, Cheyney et al., 2014a (1)

 

This module on communication has been developed using the guidelines established in the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative (CIHC)'s Interprofessional Competency Framework (2). Effective communication is impacted by the context, the complexity of the situation, people's behaviour, and their competency with expressing themselves and understanding what others are communicating. In this module you will be introduced to key communication strategies and procedures that enhance safety, team functioning, and respectful communication with families and health care providers. 

 Module Description

This module is based on two case stories: Mee's Story, about a family that refuses some aspects of care for cultural reasons while in hospital, and Geeta's Story, about a person's experience of transferring from a home birth to a hospital. Using Best Practice Guidelines, these cases will describe the experiences for parents and health care providers during pivotal events that affect safety, quality of care, and decision making. These stories will examine the nature and impact of interprofessional communication during tense clinical encounters.

As you work through the case stories, videos, personal activities, quizzes and discussions, you will develop an understanding of the processes and skills that can be applied when a time-sensitive, safety related, and high-emotion clinical encounter arises. You will learn how to apply communication skills for shared decision making with an interprofessional team and family. You will demonstrate how to elicit people's values, beliefs and preferences to support their decision making process. In these online activities you will acquire practical knowledge that will be built upon in-person to develop your communication skills.

You will be given evidence-based information and resources that describe standard procedures for transferring clinical care to another provider and location. You will be prompted to evaluate of your own personal dialogue style and learn what it means to be transparent about provider opinion and bias. This module will help you to build your expertise in interprofessional communication and appreciate the impact of dialogue on the provision of care and experiences for all.

 

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By the end of this module, participants will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate collaborative, respectful, and responsive communication with other health professionals. 
  2. Apply health care communication protocols and techniques appropriately to clinical scenarios.
  3. Demonstrate the principles of providing and receiving high quality peer feedback.
  4. Identify methods to discuss differences in belief systems and negotiate a difficult conversation. 
  5. Identify when communication is at risk of breaking down and manage the impact on people.