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Better Medicine Through Improv

What is the number one factor that everyone talks about when it comes to improving patient outcomes? Hands down it’s good patient communication. It’s well known that being in sync with your patient and his or her family early in the relationship is just as important as good clinical skills. But how do you know when that’s happening? How do you take relating with your patient to an art form?

Paul Haidet, MD, Director of Medical Education Research at Penn State College of Medicine, internist, and jazz DJ, made a unique discovery through his passion for jazz music (https://amednews.com/article/20100517/profession/305179943/7/). After years of research, he found that improvisation, a jazz hallmark, is a vital aspect of clinician-patient communication:  “Jazz is a musical conversation and for that conversation to be harmonious and interesting, you’ve got to not only play your own solo, but you’ve got to be able to listen to the meaning that the other musicians are playing…That’s when jazz is at its best and, to be honest, that’s when medicine is at its best, too.”

At a meeting of the American College of Physicians, Dr. Haidet and Gary Onady, MD, PhD, an internist and pediatrician, led a session about improving patient communication skills (http://bit.ly/1lihXVL): “They described a physician’s range of skills within his specialty as his instrument. They compared a patient’s chart with song sheets. The riff, they said, is a physician’s rapid recall of knowledge. A physician needs to be ready to improvise when he or she walks into an exam room and encounters unexpected aspects of a patient’s illness.”

Fourth-year medical students at Penn State University get an opportunity to take Dr. Haidet’s class, “Jazz and the Art of Medicine.” Four fundamental skills are taught throughout the course:

1. Managing the tension between structure and freedom.
2. Finding meaning in another person’s communication.
3. Finding your voice as a communicator.
4. Using space effectively, i.e. allowing the patient to speak, rather than interrupting during the course of a conversation.

Good patient communication skills are for everyone involved in the patient care continuum. Anyone who participates on any level with the people coming to your hospital for care has to be in tune with effective interpersonal skills.  What is your communication style? Can you trade solos with your patient? Maybe an evening with Miles Davis might provide some insight.

ActionCue® Clinical Intelligence application receiving key update

Prista Corporation’s ActionCue® Clinical Intelligence application receiving key update

Austin, Texas – Prista Corporation announced today plans to expand the features of their online application, ActionCue® Clinical Intelligence, to include Common Format report functionality — satisfying AHRQ Common Format report requirements.  This addition extends the scope of coverage of the ActionCue platform integrating Quality Management, Risk Management and Performance Improvement.

The upcoming release, which is planned for early- to mid-summer, continues the company’s commitment to providing unparalleled assistance to hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) and post-acute facilities to improve patient care quality and safety.

“We carefully considered how to best serve clients’ external reporting needs on adverse incident reports to Patient Safety Organizations and onward to various Federal agencies,” said Don Jarrell, EVP of Product and Technical Operations & co-founder of Prista. “It is extremely important to us that we continue to add to the value of the ActionCue application, while maintaining its already high standards for delivering clinical insight in a way that is clear and easy to use.”

The ActionCue application’s ability to provide AHRQ Common Format reports, in either encrypted PDF or direct online transfers, will apply to any Patient Safety Organization (PSO) or recipient the ActionCue subscriber chooses. “Subscribers already have unparalleled flexibility in creating customized reports for internal and external stakeholders,” said Mark Smith, CEO. “With this new functionality, the ActionCue application will be able to maintain its ease of use and productivity, while allowing for reporting that fully complies with the AHRQ requirements with no additional effort for users — it’s really powerful.”

“Since its founding in 2009, Prista has been committed to delivering the best insight into the healthcare and quality operational environment and best practices in information processing through ActionCue Clinical Intelligence,” continued Smith. “With a 100% customer retention rate so far, we think we are on the right path.”

When asked if Prista would be operating as a Patient Safety Organization, Prista’s Don Jarrell said, “No. We have no interest in functioning as a PSO. I believe it could complicate the relationships with our subscribers. What we want to continue doing is to provide hospitals with the best, state-of-the-art tools possible to help them increase their patient safety and care.”