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Interpersonal and Communication Skills in the Practice of Osteopathic Medicine
Overview
Osteopathic physicians must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, experience, attitudes, values, and behaviors that facilitate accurate and efficient information gathering, empathetic rapport building, and effective information giving in interactions with the patient, their support community, and other members of the interprofessional collaborative team.
Osteopathic physicians must also demonstrate the ability to effectively document and synthesize clinical findings, diagnostic impressions, and diagnostic and treatment instructions in verbal, written, and electronic format. Osteopathic physicians must incorporate appropriate accommodations, including interpretation and translation services, when non-shared language barriers exist. Interpersonal and communication skills for osteopathic medical practice are based on the incorporation of inclusive, unbiased, and culturally sensitive knowledge. These skills must be used to determine the nature of the patient’s concern, to develop, maintain, and conclude the therapeutic relationship, and to facilitate patient education, shared decision-making, and implementation of diagnostic and care plans.
Effective communication skills include active listening involving verbal and nonverbal behaviors. It is essential for osteopathic medical practice that the approach be person-centered, holistic, comprehensive, compassionate, and respectful of the unique characteristics and lived experiences of the individual.
Required Elements
DEFINITION
The osteopathic physician must communicate effectively with the patient and their support community in an inclusive and culturally sensitive manner in order to establish a diagnostic impression and to help ascertain the nature of the concern or reason for presentation. The osteopathic physician must begin interviews by encouraging full expression of concerns and must gather information in an unbiased manner that results in effective exchange of information and collaboration with other individuals, including patients, their support network, and members of their interprofessional team.
MEASURED OUTCOMES
The osteopathic physician must:
- allow patients (or other persons being interviewed) to complete their opening statements without interruption in order to elicit the full set of patient concerns.
- use open-ended and closed-ended questions effectively.
- listen actively, using appropriate verbal and nonverbal techniques, including appropriate eye contact and touch.
- use accommodations as necessary to communicate with patients and to minimize potential language or other barriers to effective information exchange.
DEFINITION
The osteopathic physician must develop, maintain, and conclude the therapeutic relationship and demonstrate competence in the rapport-building functions of the interview while respecting individual characteristics and lived experiences.
MEASURED OUTCOMES
The osteopathic physician must:
- communicate interest in, respect for, support of, and empathy for the patient.
- understand all relevant individuals’ perspectives and concerns.
- provide closure to interviews by summarizing and affirming agreements, asking whether there are remaining concerns, and planning follow-up as necessary (e.g., next visit and awareness of unexpected outcomes).
- communicate effectively with patients in all emotional states in a nonjudgmental manner and resolve relational barriers between the physician, other health care professionals, and the patient.
- communicate effectively and encourage open communication with the patient as appropriate during clinical procedures, including OMT.
- clarify their role in the patient’s care and/or on the health care team with the patient and their support community.
DEFINITION
The osteopathic physician must effectively provide patient education and information, ensuring understanding of their condition and the diagnostic and/or treatment options and recommendations. This includes achieving consensus between the patient and their support community and the physician. It also includes facilitating the informed consent process and recommending mutually agreed-upon diagnostic and/or therapeutic steps or health promotion and disease prevention strategies. Additionally, it includes enhancing coping mechanisms and encouraging appropriate lifestyle changes to avoid illness and to promote and maintain health.
MEASURED OUTCOMES
The osteopathic physician must:
- share information using inclusive and culturally sensitive terminology and concepts.
- summarize discussions, check for understanding, and conclude conversations by ensuring that all questions and concerns have been thoroughly addressed.
- encourage active patient participation in decision-making while verifying the patient and their support network’s willingness, motivation, and means to follow the care plan as part of informed consent.
- communicate the philosophy of osteopathic principles and practice and of OMT.
- communicate with compassion any news that may evoke distress, sorrow, anger, or other emotion, such as any applicable information relative to terminal illness, disability, death, and dying.
- enhance coping skills by exploring the social and psychological consequences of the condition and the treatment.
- effectively communicate directions for next steps related to diagnostic and treatment care plans.
- recommend and explain appropriate disease prevention and health promotion strategies, including lifestyle changes and available community support services.
DEFINITION
The osteopathic physician must demonstrate effective written and electronic communication in patient care and in working as a member of the interprofessional collaborative team.
MEASURED OUTCOMES
The osteopathic physician must:
- document subjective elements (e.g., information provided by the patient or a secondary source) of the medical, surgical, family, medication, allergy, social, cultural, and sexual histories and review of systems, as appropriate.
- document objective patient information (e.g., physical examination findings, laboratory/diagnostic test results, imaging results), as appropriate.
- document a reasonable diagnostic assessment or differential diagnosis as supported by diagnostic hypotheses, as well as subjective and objective findings and data, as appropriate.