Communication case studies can be an excellent tool for developing communication skills. By encouraging employees to discuss both positive and negative interactions with customers (such as patients and providers), you are providing a non-punitive, psychologically safe environment in which to learn and grow from our own interactions.
Communication case studies can be built into your Quality Management System and handled in ways similar to nonconforming events. By encouraging reporting of customer interactions, one can review and learn from the case study and determine if there are systematic processes that need to be improved to support employees.
Communication Case Study Example:
A technologist reported this negative interaction with a provider for review.
A provider was upset that the specimen was hemolyzed and now they have to redraw the specimen. The technologist explained to the provider what causes hemolysis and that the technologist will not know that the specimen is hemolyzed until all the results are done. The provider blamed the technologist for hemolyzing the specimen. The technologist was upset and stated: "Well sorry but I didn't hemolyze your specimen and there's nothing I can do about it, you'll just have to redraw the patient."
By anonymizing this case study and sharing with employees, you can begin a discussion by asking questions such as:
- How would each of you respond to the provider in this instance? What might have been a more appropriate response and why?
- How can we practice empathy in this case?
- Would it be helpful to be able to escalate this situation to a manager?
- Does this type of interaction occur often and is there anything leadership can do to help address this with the location these hemolyzed specimens are coming from?
