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Strangers in Crisis: Emergency and Hospital-Based Clinicians
Overview
Healthcare team members in emergency departments (ED), urgent care centers and hospital inpatient units face special challenges to help patients and patients’ family members. Frequently staff members do not know the patient. They must quickly establish a relationship and sometimes must deliver bad news or help families make difficult decisions. Emergency department and inpatient hospital encounters can be fraught with intensity. Also, pressures that are common throughout health services may be magnified in the ED: time and resource constraints, high information processing needs and high patient volume.
For patients and their family members, healthcare settings in general and hospital and the ED in particular can be chaotic and frightening places, engendering feelings of helplessness and distress.
Communication with patients and their family members requires the rapid establishment of rapport. Further, as patients are transferred from one clinician to the next and from service to service, effective communication among health care workers is vitally important to ensure quality care.
Healthcare organizations recognize the value of helping clinicians and other team members communicate more effectively with patients and family members. Effective and empathic communication promotes excellent clinical care, enhances patient and family satisfaction and reduces the risk of complaints.
The Strangers in Crisis: Communication for Emergency Department and Hospital-Based Clinicians workshop is designed to help clinicians manage communication challenges in emergency department, urgent care and hospital inpatient settings. The Strangers in Crisis: Communication for Emergency Department and Hospital-Based Clinicians faculty course (train-the-trainer) prepares individuals to teach the Strangers in Crisis workshop.
If you are interested, please pre-register and we will send you information about our upcoming course schedule.
- Duration 3 Days
- Accreditation Approved for CE
- Available To Clinicians, All Healthcare Professionals
- Course InformationDownload PDF
Audience
The Strangers in Crisis workshop is targeted toward emergency department, urgent care and hospital inpatient team members. The content is particularly useful for clinicians including emergency physicians, residents, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, social workers, clinical educators and EMS practitioners; clinical specialists including hospitalists, intensivists, procedurists, radiologists and anesthesiologists; and other members of the health care team including lab technicians, unit clerks and porters.
Learners in the Strangers in Crisis faculty course (train-the-trainer) are typically experienced clinicians, clinician educators or managers with supervisory, training and/or professional development responsibilities who will lead Strangers in Crisis workshop..
This train-the-trainer course can accommodate 6 to 24 participants to ensure optimal experiential learning in small and large group exercises.
Content
The Strangers in Crisis train-the-trainer course is based on theories and models of communication between clinicians and patients, between clinicians and families of patients and among healthcare team members. It encompasses structured skill development and opportunities to practice delivering portions of the Strangers in Crisis workshop. The four course components include:
- Participation in the Strangers in Crisis workshop.
- Practicing skills taught in the Strangers in Crisis workshop with simulated patients and healthcare team members.
- Delivering and facilitating components of the Strangers in Crisis workshop.
- Back-home planning to help integrate and align workshop components with other organizational needs and priorities.
As with all IHC communications curricula, Strangers in Crisis draws on the published research evidence on the importance of communication in healthcare generally, with specific emphasis on the ED and inpatient hospital units. The Strangers in Crisis train-the-trainer course is based on theories and practice of adult learning.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the Strangers in Crisis train-the-trainer course, learners will:
- Gain background knowledge and facilitation skills required to conduct IHC’s Strangers in Crisis workshop at their institution;
- Develop improved clinical communication skills and the ability to role model those skills through simulated patient sessions;
- Identify and practice a coaching and feedback model for use with learners and colleagues; and
- Develop a plan for integrating IHC workshop materials and training to meet the professional development and CE needs at their institution.
Methodology
The Strangers in Crisis train-the-trainer course is an intensive and highly interactive program conducted over three consecutive days at a host organization.
The program consists of brief presentations, interactive exercises, videotaped case studies and skill practice sessions with peers to build participant awareness, knowledge, skills and confidence regarding communication in these settings. Case examples frame realistic issues involving patients, families and teams. An extensive annotated bibliography is provided to learners. At the end of the workshop, participants are asked to commit to trying out one or two new communication strategies and then to evaluate the outcomes associated with these approaches.
Experiential learning exercises are an essential element of this curriculum. They are designed to meet diverse learning styles, in accordance with evidence-based theory on adult learning. Exercises are graduated to promote participation in a supportive and safe environment.
An alternative 2.5-day Strangers in Crisis train-the-trainer course is available to individuals previously trained to lead IHC’s Clinician-Patient Communication to Enhance Health Outcomes workshop and with successful workshop leadership experience.
CME
The Institute for Healthcare Communication (IHC) takes responsibility for the content, quality and scientific integrity of this CME/CE activity. IHC is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The Institute for Healthcare Communication designates the 3-day Strangers in Crisis train-the-trainer course for a maximum of 23.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ and the 2.5-day Strangers in Crisis train-the-trainer course for a maximum of 19.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Continuing education (CE) credit may be available to non-physician participants. IHC will provide a certificate of completion, which can be submitted to learners’ respective accrediting organizations. IHC is pleased to provide any necessary documentation to help learners gain CE credits for completion of this activity.