HOW CAN WE IMPROVE COMMUNICATION AT UF HEALTH?
Michele N. Lossius, M.D., is our UF Health Shands chief quality officer, chief of pediatric hospital medicine for UF Health Shands Children's Hospital, and an associate professor of pediatrics in the UF College of Medicine.
We recognize the patient experience is closely tied to our ability to communicate effectively. We understand the importance of clear communication, not only with each other as health care providers but also with our patients. I believe that at the very core of who we are, we want to know that we are being heard and listened to and that our health care providers are our advocates.
Communication is so important at UF Health as we continue to identify barriers to communication within the organization and develop best practices and novel approaches to break down these challenges. That is why we chose to have “Communication” as our theme for Patient Safety and Quality Week this spring. We invited Carma Bylund, Ph.D., an associate professor in the UF College of Journalism and Communications department of public relations. She has additional appointments in the college’s STEM
Translational Communication Center as well as in the UF College of Medicine department of medicine division of hematology/oncology. Her experience with developing and disseminating communication skills interventions for patients and providers made her the ideal keynote speaker for us this year. Pulling from her expertise, she hosted a panel discussion with five of our UF Health care providers who have been recognized by patients for communicating well. The panelists — three physicians, a clinical leader and an outpatient coordinator — shared best practices that we can all use moving forward as we communicate with our patients to ensure they have the best possible patient experience while under our care.
Bridging the communication gap between patients and using electronic health records, or EHRs, during their visit is another challenge we all face. We’ve moved to an age of technology — which has, in a way, dehumanized communication. While the EHR has proved to benefit patient safety, a lot of challenges come with it as well. Care teams also used to have more face-to-face encounters or person-to-person phone calls. Now? We are losing these interactions by ending electronic messages because they’re faster and easier. And when providing care, it’s easy for patients to feel like we are paying more attention to our computers and devices and not to them. The EHR is not going away: We have to work together to figure out the most effective ways to communicate better, both with each other and with our patients again.
How do we do this? We have to go back to the basics that we all learned in medical school to help us connect and relate in a more personal and attentive
manner. Ask your patients open-ended questions. Acknowledge, state or restate what you are hearing from them. Sometimes, a patient’s goal has nothing to do with what we think it does. Ask your patients what they hope to achieve. Take that information and share it with the rest of their care team. Be an advocate and liaison. Let’s bridge the communication gap together.
In this edition of The Q Report, we are highlighting how communication among providers and care teams is critical to patient safety and quality care. We are also recapping Patient Safety and Quality Week. I hope after you read these stories, you will be able to better answer: How can I help improve communication at UF Health?
