Say What?

A good way to do this, Dr. Vidyarthi suggests, is to take a quick survey in the midst of talking to that primary care physician to ask whether the medium, content, and timing that you used to contact him/her worked well.

“Then,” she says, “if you have five primaries that you talked to [who] maybe said, ‘Yes, that was helpful to me,’ or ‘Not so much really, I had all that info already,’ at least you have data. Asking ‘Do you think this will help your patients when they come to see you in the office?’ is a great question [to solidify] performance improvement. In other words, find out if what you’re doing is being effective.”

The final step to overcome a lack of an effective institutional system for post-discharge communication is to share what you’ve learned with others. “These little pieces can really empower others to make a difference,” says Dr. Vidyarthi. “Trying to change and overhaul an entire system will turn off even the most motivated of people who want to improve the system, so focus on your own personal practice models. Change it, figure out what works, and then try to disseminate it. That makes it feel and seem much more doable.”

Conclusion

Hospitalists who exercise poor communication skills with patients, families, and colleagues can experience multiple negative effects, including poor patient-related outcomes and an increased risk of malpractice litigation. Personally, consistently using poor communication may make work more difficult, reduce job satisfaction, and reduce work success and enjoyment with hospital teams and primary care physicians. TH

Contributor Andrea Sattinger makes good communication a priority every day.

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