Craigavon Educational Admin Meeting

WELCOME & OVERVIEW

Setting the scene – overview of increased demand for GP services

What has this meant for your practice?

Has demand outstripped our capacity to deliver? How do we know?

Can we keep doing the same or is it time to change?

The Communication Model

Before we can signpost the patient we need to understand how we communicate with

others. How can we signpost if we cant establish a relationship with them – are we just

seen as the ‘nosy receptionist’? This module uses unique techniques and a recognized

communication model to look at how we gather information when we are dealing with

patients and the impact of semiotics in this process. We will examine the skills

necessary to become an open, non-judgmental, patient-centred communicator – even

when time is short.

Getting to the point

Building on the skills gained in module one, we examine the impact of the telephone

on the communication process and the golden rules for telephone call handling. Using

our time wisely. Using the ‘ICE’ (Calgary-Cambridge communication skills) model to

understand what is going on beneath the surface. In this module we go on to examine

the difficulties in communication via the telephone - analysing the “verbal handshake

and ‘parking’ as techniques for good telephone handling in the practice. We get to see

a receptionist dealing with a patient via the telephone and diagnose how well they did

at getting to the underlying problems in a short space of time.

S h o r t b r e a k

Signposting decision making

What exactly is signposting and how does it work? Is this just a fancy name for triage?

Weighing up the information you have gathered. Skills for telephone signposting – “the

right patient to the right service at the right time”. What are the decisions the

receptionist needs to make? If we don’t offer an appointment, where can we signpost

the patient instead? How do we know what is really an emergency, same day or routine

request? Are we happy with red flags?

We will bring together all the skills utilized in this master-class and also examine a

range of workable templates/ algorithms to aid appointment signposting and look at

the usefulness of a practice policy for telephone decision making at the reception

desk.

REFLECTED LEARNING – Feedback and what have you learned today?