Relationship-centered communication training for pediatric
hematology/oncology providers to improve patient experience
Abstract
Background Pediatric hematology/oncology providers frequently have
challenging discussions with patients/families, yet receive little
formal training in communication. Our institution aimed to meet this
need with a workshop in relationship-centered communication (RCC), which
focuses on empathy, reflective listening, and patient/family
understanding. This study evaluates the efficacy of this intervention to
improve patient/family experience in healthcare encounters. Procedure
Our team at Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH), a quaternary care pediatric
and women’s hospital, developed a 5.5-hour RCC skills workshop in
collaboration with the Academy of Communication in Healthcare (ACH).
ACH-trained TCH providers led participants in 3 pediatric-specific skill
sets that incorporated didactics, role-playing skills practice, and
reflective feedback. Patient experience was measured using Press Ganey
email surveys (PGS) that were collected for a minimum of 12 months
pre-course and 3 months post-course. Results Forty-nine pediatric
hematology/oncology providers voluntarily participated in the RCC skills
workshop over a 3-year period. The majority of participants were
physicians (77.6%), female (85.7%), and in the first 10 years of
practice (61.2%). Of the 15 participants who had both pre- and
post-course PGS available, scores significantly improved in all areas of
the care provider section (P < 0.05). Conclusions RCC skills
training improved pediatric hematology/oncology patient/family
experience.