Health Quality BC - Communicating Unexpected Outcomes (CUO) for Clinicians (Part 1 of 2)

Course Description: This online course (via Zoom, 4-hours total) is designed to improve transparency with patients and families after unexpected clinical outcomes occur, including those resulting from errors in care. The program will enhance the communication skills of individual providers, healthcare teams and organizations for disclosing clinical errors with honesty, empathy and respect. Participants will also learn to improve their support of other team members in these often-difficult circumstances.

*Participants must be registered in and attend both HQBC CUO Part 1 (2 hours) & Part 2 (2 hours) for course completion. Please ensure the same cohort is selected for both Part 1 & Part 2.

Strengths of the Program:

• Improved transparency and communications.
• Enhanced communication skills.
• Effective support for team members faced with these circumstances.

Topics Covered:

• The importance of timely and compassionate disclosure.
• Individual, team and organization accountability and support.
• Patient-centered disclosure.

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this program, participants will be able to:

• Describe the professional accountabilities of individual healthcare providers, healthcare interprofessional teams, and organizations for disclosure communications.
• Recognize the importance of communicating factual information on what has happened, including what is being done to prevent further occurrences.
• State the importance of genuine apology, and how to appropriately apologize.
• Describe when and how to plan for initial disclosure as an interprofessional team and safely discuss a clinical error in an empathic and just way.
• Demonstrate ways to effectively disclose unexpected clinical outcomes, to patients and family members, using the 3 needs and follow up model.

This program was co-developed between the Health Quality BC (formerly BC Patient Safety Quality Council) and Saegis Safety Institute and was planned to achieve scientific integrity, objectivity and balance. This course is accredited by:

• The College of Family Physicians of Canada for up to 18 Mainpro+ credits (Group Learning); and
• The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada for up to 6 hours of MOC credits (Section 3).