Aligning Family-Clinician Expectations During Pediatric Surgical Informed Consent: Development and Implementation of an Innovative Communication Skills Workshop

Cohen-Bearak, Adena; Meyer, Elaine C.; Mednick, Lauren; Varrin, Pamela; Burgess, Lisa; Kuhlmann, Pia H.; Bell, Sigall und Lillehei, Craig (2021): Aligning Family-Clinician Expectations During Pediatric Surgical Informed Consent: Development and Implementation of an Innovative Communication Skills Workshop. In: Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions, Bd. 41, Nr. 4: S. 279-285

Abstract

Introduction: Aligning expectations during the informed consent process before a child's surgery is an important element of good communication that benefits both surgical staff and families. We developed and evaluated a 2-hour pilot interprofessional workshop to improve the communication and relational skills of pediatric surgeons and nurse practitioners. Methods: Focus groups with families identified key challenges in the process of informed consent. An interprofessional team, including parents whose children had experienced complex surgeries, developed the workshop collaboratively. A realistic simulation with professional actors portraying parents allowed surgical staff to practice communication skills and receive feedback about the parent perspective. Participants completed a postworkshop evaluation to determine whether the workshop met its objectives and whether they would change practice. Results: Five key themes identified for the workshop included customize communication;align expectations;share clinical uncertainty;recognize/attend to emotions;and identify team members. Thirty-five clinicians participated in a workshop, and 89% completed evaluations. Three-quarters reported the learning to be valuable, and 64% were likely to change practice. Eighty-seven percent would recommend the workshop to other colleagues, and 58 to 74% felt more prepared to achieve each of eight specific skills. Discussion: An innovative workshop for pediatric surgical practitioners to align family-clinician expectations can help improve clinician communication skills and comfort with informed consent. Keys to workshop development included involving parents to identify themes and participate as workshop co-faculty;enlisting leadership and recruiting surgical champions;and using pre-existing meetings to ease scheduling challenges of busy practitioners. Booster sessions may facilitate the desired cultural changes.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Medizin
• Themengebiete: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften > 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
• ISSN: 0894-1912
• Sprache: Englisch