This webinar will focus on ineffective communication and that is why active listening is a core competency of successful communication in healthcare practice.

Despite the commonly held belief that communication skills are innate and intuitive; many studies prove that effective communication is a set of teachable behaviours which can be honed with appropriate training and support1.

For primary care practitioners, especially GPs, consultations for minor ailments constitute a large part of the workload. Regardless of the severity of ailment, GPs still need to demonstrate affective communication skills like those required to listen actively that are therapeutic and ameliorative to provide support to patients2.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this webinar, participants will be able to: 

  • Discuss the requirements of emotionally competent listening to communicate effectively and accurately.
  • Identify relevant frameworks to guide and inform discussions around difficult issues with patients, families, and colleagues.
  • Implement effective strategies to minimise medico-legal risk in various clinical scenarios.

Q & A

1. I think I find it difficult when a patient has many doctors that talk to one another or don't care about what each other wants/needs.

Insufficient cooperation and coordination, together with poor communication practices, can pose significant barriers not only to achieving effective patient transitions and engagement while receiving primary care, but can also cause medical errors and unintentional harm to patients.

Efficient communication depends upon the healthcare practitioner taking practical steps to ensure they have really heard and recorded the patient’s needs so as to provide personalised and timely care.

You can actively decrease the risk of patient harm and communication errors, by adopting active listening skills and ensuring you maintain adequate health records.

To reduce your clinico-legal risk, MIPS advises you to:

  • Implement active listening behaviours into your practice, to ensure your communication approach is clear and intentional. This includes:
    • Avoiding unnecessary distractions.
    • Looking directly at the person with whom you are engaged in conversation and asking questions to confirm your understanding:
      • “Can you give me an example of . . .”
      • “How frequently does this happen?”
  • Rephrase what you understood and ask the patient to confirm what you have just said. 
    • “What I hear you saying is . . .”
  • Let the patient finish speaking and then clarify their meaning before you formulate your response.
  • Ask open ended questions and avoid making conclusions too quickly.
  • Ensure the content of patient health records is accurate and up to date, including any lifestyle risk factors. Health records should include:
    • How long a patient has been attending the practice.
    • The management planning, preventive health interventions and referrals made for a patient.
    • Evidence of care provided by other healthcare professionals for long-term patients.
  • Timely review and action on tests and results:
    • How long a patient has been attending the practice.
    • The management planning, preventive health interventions and referrals made for a patient.
    • Evidence of care provided by other healthcare professionals for long-term patients.
    • Notify patients when a practitioner leaves your practice.
    • Look back and review previous patient entries and test results.
    • A patient sitting in front of you, even in a one-off consultation to get a prescription – is your patient and you have a duty of care.
    • Failure to adequately do a handover to another practitioner or institution potentially gives rise to an adverse outcome.


2. It is critical that senior clinicians lead by example. if we practice with empathy, our junior colleagues learn from us and do the same.

Empathy has been recognised as a significant skill in healthcare. It is crucial for health practitioners to accurately assess their patients’ feelings, opinions and experiences in order to evaluate their real needs and act accordingly, offering patient-centred care. Reaching this goal makes the development of empathetic skills necessary.  Empathetic modelling from senior clinicians, professors and healthcare leaders enhances junior practitioners’ empathy including mental flexibility, regulation of emotional self, and perspective taking practices.

3.Can you comment on the use of directing follow-up time to patients?

Follow-up is the act of contacting a patient or caregiver at a later, specified date to check on the patient's progress since his or her last appointment. Timely follow-ups can help you to identify misunderstandings and answer questions, make further assessments or adjust treatments. In addition, follow-up promotes good therapeutic relationships between you and your patients.

  • Decide on the reasons for follow-up.
    • Monitor health status and treatment progress.
    • Re-state treatment instructions and action plans.
    • Confirm medicine regimens.
    • Book appointments.
    • Verify follow-through on allied health referrals.
    • Communicate laboratory results.
  • Identify who will follow up with patients.
    • Who follows up depends on the purpose of the communication (primary care clinician, nurse, other practice staff)
  • Choose the ways your practice will follow up.
    • Phone
    • Secure email
    • Postal mail
    • Automated calling system
  • Track your follow-up
    • Record all follow-ups in the patient’s health records


Disclaimer 

The materials provided are for educational purposes only. Whilst all reasonable care has been taken in preparing these materials, including the accuracy of the information supplied, MIPS does not accept any liability whatsoever arising out of the use or reliance of the information provided.

If you require further clarification contact MIPS on 1300 698 573 or via info@mips.com.au  

MIPS resources

MIPS on Demand Online modules with CPD

1Tennant, K., Long, A., & Toney-Butler, T. J. (2017). Active listening.

2Fassaert, T., van Dulmen, S., Schellevis, F., & Bensing, J. (2007). Active listening in medical consultations: Development of the Active Listening Observation Scale (ALOS-global). Patient education and counseling, 68(3), 258-264.

Watch the webinar

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