Communication Training Program Launches for Healthcare Professionals

Anthony Orsini, D.O., neonatologist, announced the official launch of The Orsini Way and its flagship program, It’s All in the Delivery. The program uses proven communication techniques to enhance patient satisfaction by teaching healthcare professionals how to build trusting relationships with patients and families. Dr. Orsini, the founder, developed the program to help professionals practice compassion when interacting with patients.

“Communication is the number one factor influencing thepatient experience, and one interaction can change the course of someone’slife,” said Dr. Orsini. “There are ways to teach relationship building, empathyand trust, and making simple changes to daily interactions can dramaticallyimpact the culture of an entire hospital and help patients feel at ease.Hospitals using our program have reported a 60 percent increase in overallpatient satisfaction since employing these methods.”

Originally founded as BBN, The Orsini Way’s initial goal was to help doctors effectively deliver tragic news to patients and their loved ones. This program used professional actors to put physicians through real-life scenarios to help them learn the most empathetic ways to interact. Now, the company has expanded to include all aspects of patient communication through It’s All in the Delivery.

“It’s not always what we say, but how we say it,” said Dr.Orsini.

It’s All in the Delivery uses compassionate communication tochange healthcare culture, including topics such as breaking bad news,professional burnout, conflict resolution and body language. The communicationmethods involve experiential role-playing simulations via professional actors,interactive workshops, and a digital learning experience to reinforce adherenceand build positive habits.

Dr. Orsini will travel to that particular hospital with theprofessional actors, instructors and production company to deliver thecommunication training. Typically Dr. Orsini will write a scenario for therole-playing that will be designed for the particular needs of the hospital.

Trainees will undergo role-playing, which could take aboutan hour, without a rehearsal or background on communication techniques. Theinteraction that occurs between the professional actor and the trainee isimprovisational, so that the actors can react naturally from the positive ornegative feeling that is evoked from the doctor’s communication.

“If you are going to do this improvisational role-playing,we want you to make mistakes. That’s how you are going to learn,” said Dr.Orsini.

The entire scenario is recorded and used immediatelyafterward for a personal, one-on-one debrief. Dr. Orsini will go over theentire recording word-by-word, making comments and giving instruction onanything from the tone of the trainee’s voice to his or her body language.

“Seventy-one percent of malpractice claims are initiated dueto poor communication,” said Dr. Orsini. “Healthcare professionals are expertsin their fields, but sometimes, we forget how to speak the language ofcompassion. It is easy to become task-oriented instead of patient-oriented. Ourgoal at The Orsini Way is to bring the human touch back to medicine through acombination of innovative technology and advanced communication techniques.”

The program can be used to teach communication techniques toanyone working at the practice, from staff members to receptionists, so thatthe patient’s overall experience can be enhanced and a trusting relationshipcan be formed.

The techniques take into account the time constraints thathealthcare professionals have. An emergency room doctor, for example, can learnhow to form a trusting relationship with a patient in less than a minute.

Instructors will grade trainees on their performance using ascoring system. Instructors will also ask trainees to reflect on theirperformance and how they could have handled it better.

While not everyone can be a part of the one-on-one role-playing, interactive workshops can be used for groups. Instructors will show a stock video and participants will review and discuss the interaction they see on the screen.

“There’s techniques that we can teach that don’t take anyextra time but that really enhance that understanding,” said Dr. Orsini.

A physician, for example, can change how he introduceshimself from “one of the physicians taking care of you,” to “the physicianresponsible for you tonight,” which translates into a greater sense ofresponsibility and care to the patient.

After role-playing or participating in the workshop, ahospital can choose to incorporate the digital learning component, whichsupplements the previous communication training.

During the course of 8-12 weeks of the digital program,users will receive a text message with the lesson of the week. The lessons aredesigned to take no more than five minutes so that physicians can incorporatethe training during their breaks or when they have only a few minutes to spare.Later during the week the physician might be notified again with an invitationto learn more about a particular topic.

The Orsini Way program and its teaching methods are from the result of Dr. Orsini’s own research as well as from interactions patients have experienced with healthcare professionals.