Course overview

Communication skills for clinical healthcare professionals to confidently conduct open disclosure conversations with patients and their families following an adverse outcome

Open Disclosure requires clinicians to engage with patients when something goes wrong. There is a natural inclination for clinicians to want to avoid such discussions for fear of strong emotions from the patient, causing the patient distress or even loss of professional reputation. Without the correct training, these discussions may lead to patients taking the matter further.

The Mastering Open Disclosure workshop takes a comprehensive approach to the difficult area of discussing adverse outcomes with patients. This workshop highlights the importance of recognising patient expectations when an adverse outcome occurs and how failing to address them increases the risk of the patient turning to other avenues for accountability.

Cognitive Institute’s open disclosure courses meet the requirements of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care National Safety Quality Health Service Standards (NSQHS) 1.12 for open disclosure and New Zealand Health & Disability Commissioner.

The workshop provides an overview of Open Disclosure and then progresses to providing a thorough grounding on the issues and the legal obligations and implications of these discussions. The workshop then focuses on the communication skills required to conduct these conversations and how to handle patient anger and distress.

Course details

Duration
3 hours

Number of participants
7-15 optimum, 5 minimum, 20 maximum

Format
The format for the Mastering Open Disclosure workshop is short lectures, reflective exercises, small group facilitated discussions, group activities and rehearsal of skills.

Brief didactic presentations will provide the focus for small group sessions in which participants are able to share experience and pool knowledge, enabling critical comparison of their skills with their peers and peer learning.

Video case studies are used to enable participants to analyse and reflect upon their own skills. The format has been carefully structured to enable a mix of lectures, discussion, critical reflection and evaluation.

Faculty
Cognitive Institute faculty are senior clinicians with over 20 years’ experience. They have attained accreditation after undertaking intensive formal training, and are skilled in the delivery of education to healthcare professionals, organisation-wide.

Each of our faculty are drawn from differing health backgrounds and offer a rich and diverse experience of health service delivery and education. They have delivered and supported implementation of courses and programmes in a range of public and private healthcare organisations across the Asia Pacific and United Kingdom.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Points
Cognitive Institute courses are CPD accredited with most colleges. Learn more.

Participants will be provided with a certificate of completion on request.

Who should attend

Outcomes

Australian healthcare facilities where open disclosure has been implemented are successfully modulating their approach to open disclosure.

For organisations, Cognitive Institute advocates a sustainable two-step approach. First, all staff are provided with an introduction to open disclosure. Second, a core group is trained as experts who can guide other colleagues. Their training includes simulation, role-playing and facilitated discussions. This cadre of experts can then be called upon to assist, mediate and facilitate actual open disclosure dialogue.

In addition, junior staff who need to participate in an open disclosure process are provided with ‘just in time’ training either by these experts or external contractors.

The core inter-professional group of open disclosure ‘specialists’ can counsel other staff when required or step in to perform open disclosure. They are also responsible for linking open disclosure to quality improvement and clinical risk management.

Clinicians who undertake the Mastering Open Disclosure workshop will be able to:

effectively engage with patients when something goes wrong, including:
- an apology or expression of regret, including the word “sorry”
- a factual explanation of what happened
- consequences of the event
understand the steps being taken to manage the event and prevent a recurrence
genuinely express regret to a patient who has suffered an adverse outcome while being cognisant of the issues of admitting liability
engage with the psychological and emotional state of patients suffering an adverse outcome
identify what and why patients want to know about adverse outcomes
effectively deal with patient anger and disappointment, avoiding arguments
connect with and address personal emotional barriers to undertaking these difficult conversations.

Costs

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