Advanced Communication Skills Course for Doctors and Healthcare Professionals

You will examine active listening, questioning, verbal and non-verbal communication, rapport and the barriers that can prevent a message from being understood as intended. You will also consider how the way a question is asked can influence the information you receive and how apparently small changes in language, tone and behaviour can affect the quality of an interaction.

Empathy is an essential part of healthcare communication, but expressing it effectively can be more difficult than simply recognising that somebody is upset, worried or frustrated. You will explore how to identify and respond to emotion while maintaining the purpose and boundaries of a professional conversation.

Many communication difficulties arise because the people involved have different expectations or interpret the same situation in different ways. You will explore how expectations can be identified early and how differences in expectations, beliefs and perspectives can shape the way people interpret information and respond to a conversation. The course also considers how beliefs influence behaviour and decision-making. Concepts including locus of control and the Health Belief Model are used to explore why patients may respond differently to illness, risk, treatment and professional advice.

You will consider approaches to angry, distressed, disappointed or challenging patients and examine how communication can either escalate or de-escalate a difficult interaction. Sensitive conversations, including breaking bad news, are also explored. Structured approaches such as SPIKES can provide a useful framework, but the emphasis is on using them intelligently rather than turning complex human conversations into scripts.

Disappointment is not always the result of poor care. It may arise because expectations were never identified, because circumstances have changed or because what somebody hoped for cannot reasonably be provided. You will explore how difficult information can be communicated clearly, how disappointment can be acknowledged and how expectations can be managed without making promises that cannot be kept.

Good communication does not necessarily make consultations longer. In many situations, understanding what a patient actually wants from an interaction can make the consultation both more patient-centred and more focused. The course explores ways of identifying expectations early, maintaining direction and bringing a conversation back to its purpose when necessary.

You will consider your own communication preferences and how these may affect the way other people respond to you. The course explores different social styles and why people with contrasting approaches to pace, detail, relationships and decision-making can sometimes find one another difficult to communicate with. The purpose is not to categorise people, but to become more observant and adaptable.

The course explores the distinction between passive, aggressive and assertive communication and considers how you can communicate your position clearly while continuing to recognise the perspective of the other person. This includes situations involving competing demands, delegation, inappropriate requests, saying no and professional disagreement.

You will examine how conflict develops, how communication can contribute to escalation and how your own response can influence what happens next. The course also explores negotiation with patients and colleagues, particularly where people have different priorities or want different outcomes. Approaches such as non-violent communication are used to consider how concerns can be expressed clearly while maintaining a constructive dialogue.