Excellence in Communication Curriculum Available for School of Medicine Faculty

With provider burnout at record levels and patient satisfaction driving the delivery of care, creating valuable connection has never been more important. 

Through the Excellence in Communication curriculum, more than 400 School of Medicine faculty members have learned high yielding communication strategies designed to be embedded into busy, high-paced, and often stressful work environments. 

Ninety percent of participants have rated the course as excellent (74%) or very good (16%) as related to “worth your time personally” for the 4-hours they invested into this one-time course. The curriculum is delivered by School of Medicine faculty from across the clinical spectrum, including representatives from surgery, emergency medicine, urology, anesthesia, internal medicine and family medicine. It’s evidence-based and aimed at physicians at any level.

“It’s valuable wherever you are when you come into the course,” said Patrick Kneeland, MD​, (pictured above) executive medical director for patient and provider experience at UCHealth. 

“The course delivers high-yield strategies that we may already have an inclination about but it also provides practical ways of using them in a busy practice setting,” he said. “Improved communication doesn’t just enhance patient satisfaction, there are plenty of data linking communication to health outcomes, and effective communication has been shown to help doctors reconnect with the reasons for going into health care in the first place.”

Classes are scheduled each month through December 2018. To sign up for the course, email James.Moore2@uchealth.org. 

Details about the course:  A one-time, 4-hour, evidence-based workshop for experienced clinicians that puts high-yield tools in the hands of clinicians. Peer-to-peer. This workshop provides the framework to improve healthcare providers' effectiveness as both managers of care and educators of patients.

The purpose of the Excellence in Communication workshop is to equip clinicians with effective relationship-centered communication skills that increase patient satisfaction, reduce physician burnout, and improve medical outcomes for patients, clinicians, teams and health care institutions. This fundamental workshop centers around brief didactic presentations blended with live or video-based skill demonstrations, small group skills practice sessions, guided feedback and coaching.​

For questions about the curriculum, contact patrick.kneeland@ucdenver.edu.