Interpersonal Skills and Communication

Outcome

By graduation, residents will demonstrate the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to develop and maintain appropriate interpersonal therapeutic relationships and to communicate effectively with patients, families, colleagues, and the public. Residents are expected to exhibit progressive improvement in their interpersonal and communication skills throughout their training. Methods of demonstration may include the care of patients/ families, participation in didactics and clinical conferences, presentations, or exams.

Knowledge

Definition

Residents must know and utilize interpersonal and communication skills that result in the effective exchange of information and the creation of effective teamwork with patients, families, and other professionals. Relevant topics include (not inclusive):

• Interviewing techniques
• Transference and counter transference issues
• Cultural and ethnic factors
• Professional factors (i.e. different attitudes/ approaches between disciplines)
• Interdisciplinary teams
• Empathy

Expectations

Residents must participate in

• the clinical care of youth and families with the ability to engage and communicate effectively to obtain the relevant and necessary information, provide appropriate treatment, and liaison with others
• liaison and multidisciplinary team activities with the ability to effectively communicate with other professionals to provide optimal care and promote the acquisition of knowledge
• didactic and clinical activities demonstrating the ability to obtain and convey relevant information

Attitudes

Definition

Residents must have an ongoing and self-exploratory interest in developing, maintaining, and utilizing interpersonal skills with patients, families, and other professionals to provide optimal patient care and enhance educational activities

Expectations

Residents must

• exhibit consistent enthusiasm, motivation, and interest in learning and applying appropriate communication skills in didactic and clinical situations
• demonstrate the ability to
• maintain a polite and courteous attitude at all times
• listen to and learn from others, even those with different viewpoints and backgrounds
• gain an understanding of perspectives different from their own
• collaborate with patients, families, and other professionals towards common goals
• continuously self-examine the impact of their own attitudes and behaviors

Skills

Definition

Residents must

• demonstrate the ability to utilize a variety of interviewing and therapeutic techniques as appropriate
• create and maintain therapeutic and ethically sound relationships with patients and their families
• demonstrate fluency and proficiency in written and spoken English
• work effectively with others as a member or leader of a health care/ other professional team
• employ active listening and informing techniques to effectively elicit and provide information through the use of explanatory, questioning, and writing skills as well as facilitating nonverbal behaviors
• advocate for their patients and families

Expectations

Residents must demonstrate through

• the clinical care of children, adolescents, and families the ability to
• employ an empathetic style of relating and communicating to provide safe, effective, and compassionate patient care which is ethically sound
• select and utilize effective interviewing and therapeutic strategies to provide effective diagnoses, interventions, and treatment
• didactic participation and supervisory discussions the ability to examine their own attitudes and biases and the impact on their clinical work
• participation in team/ liaison activities the ability to obtain and convey information as a consultant and/or multidisciplinary team member or leader to facilitate patient care and promote learning
• the care of individual patients and/ or organizational work the ability to effectively advocate for children, adolescents, and their families

Assessment/Measurement

Objective Measures

• Regular documentation by clinical and teaching faculty of participation in didactic modules, case conferences, and other teaching sessions
• Completion of CHILD PRITE annually with review of individual scores with the training director
• Clinical skills verification examination
• Mock Boards
• Regular documentation of resident performance in areas relevant to communication and interpersonal skills by supervising outpatient and on-rotation faculty.

Supervision

Regular documentation of resident performance in areas relevant to communication and interpersonal skills by supervising outpatient and on-rotation faculty

Clinical Skill Evaluation

• Direct observation of the individual resident's clinical and didactic activities by identified faculty
• Incorporation of co-worker 360 evaluations
• Observation and evaluation of videotaped patient interactions by supervisors and/ or teaching faculty on a regular basis
• Annual clinical examination of “mock board” type
• Clinical skills verification exam for those beginning in 2010
• Biannual review of performance with training director

Independent Learning

Demonstration of self-initiated as well as directed study through leadership of discussions in both didactic and clinical activities and through presentations to the residency program in various formats (e.g. required papers; seminars; grand rounds; etc)

Deficiency Remediation

• Regular review for each individual resident with the training director of the various measures of performance and competence with the
• identification of any specific deficits
• documentation of all identified areas requiring remediation or additional concentration
• development of specific remediation plans based on the particular deficiencies identified
• planning for further assessment with the outcome being determined by a method of assessment similar to the one used to identify the original deficiency deficits identified through the supervisory process might be reassessed by subsequent supervisory reports specifically targeted at assessing and remediating the identified deficits; etc.)