There are a whole range of things that you can do to overcome communication barriers in practice. Some are simple changes while others are more complex and will take longer to integrate. Before making any changes, it is important to make sure the whole team is on board – sit down and discuss as a clinic what strategies might work in your situation.
- Have a briefing at the beginning of the shift – what is happening today? Are there any inpatients to consider? Are there clients who need updating? Which team members are responsible for which tasks? Getting the whole team on the same page at the start of the day can make a big difference. It can be helpful to regroup intermittently throughout the day to make sure everything is on track. Debrief at the end of the day–did everything get done?
- Structure patient handovers. Using a structure such as SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) can help make sure that all the necessary information is included when you hand over your patients at the end of your shift.
- Use closed-loop communication. This is when a something is requested and the person taking it on verbally acknowledges what they are going to do and when they have completed it.
- ‘Fly by voice’ – this is a technique in the aviation industry where a pilot verbalizes their actions as they perform them and can be a useful strategy in veterinary medicine too. It gives other team members an opportunity to speak out if they have interpreted the situation differently.
- Train the team to use graded assertiveness to help them when they need to raise concerns. An example of one such tool is CUSS.
- I am Concerned that…
- I am Uncomfortable that….
- I am Seriously concerned that….
- Then Stop, this is a Safety issue
