Skills for Professional Communication

Question 1

list the 4 professional competencies

Answer 1

• cognitive
• relational
• moral
• integrative

Question 2

____ is the 3rd leading cause of death in the US

Answer 2

medical errors is the 3rd leading cause of death in the US

improving communication between health providers reduces errors by 30%

Question 3

list the barriers to interprofessionalism

Answer 3

• lack of interprofessional cultural competence
• perceived power differences
• profession-centric role models

Question 4

list the tools for interprofessional communication

Answer 4

• CUSP
  
  • concerned, uncomfortable, safety, professional
• SBAR
  
  • situation, background, assessment, recommendation
• DESC
  
  • describe, express, suggest, consequences
• cross monitoring
  
  • everyone on the team watches each other’s back
• 2 challenge rule
  
  • if there is something I’m not comfortable with, I’m required to say something about it twice
• checkbacks
  
  • somebody says something, someone else repeats, the 1st person confirms
• debriefing

Question 5

describe the hidden curriculum

Answer 5

• what you learn informally as opposed to formally about how physicians think and act: “sticky knowledge” that’s more memorable than explicit instruction
• based on modelling verus didactic training: your socialization/enculturation into medicine
• usually thought to be at odds with the dominant discourse of what professional communication should be, contributes to “ethical erosion among medical students”

Question 6

describe assertive, nonviolent communication

Answer 6

• start sentences with “I” (not you)
• describe the behavior
• make your request/suggestion