Curriculum standards
Entrustable Professional Activities
LG9: Communication with patients
Communication with patients
Discuss diagnoses and management plans with patients
This activity requires the ability to:
- select suitable contexts, and include family and/or carers and other team members
- adopt a patient-centred perspective, including adjusting for cognition and disabilities
- select and use appropriate modalities and communication strategies
- structure conversations intentionally
- negotiate mutually agreed management plans
- verify patients’, family members’, or carers’ understanding of information conveyed
- develop and implement plans to ensure actions occur
- ensure conversations are documented
Professional practice framework domain
Medical expertise
Ready to perform without supervision
Expected behaviours of a trainee who can routinely perform this activity without needing supervision
The trainee will:
- anticipate and be able to correct any misunderstandings patients may have about their conditions and/or risk factors
- be aware of information, and direct patients to evidence-based literature to correct misconceptions or misunderstandings of their disease and/or risk factors
- inform patients of all aspects of their clinical management, including assessments and investigations, and give them adequate opportunity to question or refuse interventions and treatments
- discuss expectations of disease reversal or control with patients and their family or carers
- provide information to patients to enable them to make informed decisions about diagnostic, therapeutic, and management options
- seek to understand the concerns and goals of patients, and plan management in partnership with them
- manage adverse reactions to immunisations, and advise patients and their families or carers regarding future immunisation scheduling
- counsel patients on avoidance strategies
- counsel patients on recognition and acute management of anaphylaxis, including administration of injectable adrenaline and autoinjectors
- counsel patients and families on the potential benefits, risks, and safety plans of therapies
- counsel patients and families regarding the benefits and risks of immunisation
- educate families on management and the community resources available
- counsel parents at high risk of having children with allergies on strategies to reduce the risk of their child / children developing allergic diseases
Requires some supervision
Possible behaviours of a trainee who needs some supervision to perform this activity
The trainee may:
- apply knowledge of the scientific basis of health and disease to the management of patients
- demonstrate an understanding of the clinical problem being discussed
- demonstrate the ability to ascertain patients’ concerns regarding aspects of their disease and/or management
- formulate management plans in partnership with patients
Communication
Ready to perform without supervision
Expected behaviours of a trainee who can routinely perform this activity without needing supervision
The trainee will:
- use appropriate communication strategies and modalities for communication, such as emails, face-to-face, or phone calls
- discuss with patients, families, and carers if and/or how virtual care can support their health needs, including the limitations of virtual health care
- obtain patient consent to use the virtual communication method
- use a communication format designed to compensate for any connectivity issues
- produce consultation reports for referring clinicians
- elicit patients’ views, concerns, and preferences, promoting rapport
- provide information to patients in plain language, avoiding jargon, acronyms, and complex medical terms
- ask patients to share their thoughts or explain their management plans in their own words, to verify understanding
- encourage questions, and answer them thoroughly
- refer to national best practice standards around the management of patients with allergy
- provide standardised action plans, such as the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy anaphylaxis and/or allergic reactions management plan
- convey information considerately and sensitively to patients, seeking clarification if unsure of how best to proceed
- recognise the role of family or carers, and, when appropriate, encourage patients to involve their family or carers in decisions about their care
- treat children and young people respectfully, and listen to their views
Requires some supervision
Possible behaviours of a trainee who needs some supervision to perform this activity
The trainee may:
- select appropriate modes of communication
- engage patients in discussions, avoiding the use of jargon
- check patients’ understanding of information
- adapt communication style in response to patients’ age, developmental level, and cognitive, physical, cultural, socioeconomic, and situational factors
- collaborate with patient liaison officers as required
Quality and safety
Ready to perform without supervision
Expected behaviours of a trainee who can routinely perform this activity without needing supervision
The trainee will:
- discuss with patients their condition and the available management options, including potential benefits and harms
- provide information to patients in a way they can understand before asking for their consent
- consider young people’s capacity for decision making and consent
- recognise and take precautions where patients may be vulnerable, such as issues of child protection, self-harm, or elder abuse
- participate in processes to manage patient complaints
- advise on patients undergoing solid organ transplantation to minimise the probability of graft rejection
Requires some supervision
Possible behaviours of a trainee who needs some supervision to perform this activity
The trainee may:
- inform patients of the material risks associated with proposed management plans
- treat information about patients as confidential
Teaching and learning
Ready to perform without supervision
Expected behaviours of a trainee who can routinely perform this activity without needing supervision
The trainee will:
- discuss the aetiology of diseases, and explain the purpose, nature, and extent of assessments to be conducted
- obtain informed consent or other valid authority before involving patients in teaching
Requires some supervision
Possible behaviours of a trainee who needs some supervision to perform this activity
The trainee may:
- respond appropriately to information sourced by patients, and to patients’ knowledge regarding their condition
Research
Ready to perform without supervision
Expected behaviours of a trainee who can routinely perform this activity without needing supervision
The trainee will:
- provide information to patients in a way they can understand before asking for their consent to participate in research
- obtain an informed consent or other valid authority before involving patients in research
- provide information to patients that is based on guidelines issued by the National Health and Medical Research Council and/or Health Research Council of New Zealand
Requires some supervision
Possible behaviours of a trainee who needs some supervision to perform this activity
The trainee may:
- refer to evidence-based clinical guidelines
- demonstrate an understanding of the limitations of the evidence and the challenges of applying research in daily practice
Cultural safety
Ready to perform without supervision
Expected behaviours of a trainee who can routinely perform this activity without needing supervision
The trainee will:
- demonstrate effective and culturally competent communication with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and Māori
- effectively communicate with members of other cultural groups by meeting patients’ specific language, cultural, and communication needs
- incorporate appropriate LGBTQIA+ safe language, including gender affirming language
- use qualified language interpreters or cultural interpreters to help meet patients’ communication needs
- provide plain language and culturally appropriate written materials to patients when possible
Requires some supervision
Possible behaviours of a trainee who needs some supervision to perform this activity
The trainee may:
- identify when to use interpreters
- allow enough time for communication across linguistic and cultural barriers
Ethics and professional behaviour
Ready to perform without supervision
Expected behaviours of a trainee who can routinely perform this activity without needing supervision
The trainee will:
- encourage and support patients to be well informed about their health, and to use information wisely when they make decisions
- encourage and support patients, and, when relevant, their families or carers, in caring for themselves and managing their health
- demonstrate respectful, professional relationships with patients
- prioritise honesty, patients’ welfare, and community benefit above self-interest
- develop a high standard of personal conduct, consistent with professional and community expectations
- support patients’ rights to seek second opinions
Requires some supervision
Possible behaviours of a trainee who needs some supervision to perform this activity
The trainee may:
- respect the preferences of patients
- communicate appropriately, consistent with the context, and respect patients’ needs and preferences
- maximise patient autonomy, and support their decision making
- avoid sexual, intimate, and/or financial relationships with patients
- demonstrate a caring attitude towards patients
- respect patients, including protecting their rights to privacy and confidentiality
- behave equitably towards all, irrespective of gender, age, culture, socioeconomic status, sexual preferences, beliefs, contribution to society, illness-related behaviours, or the illness itself
- use social media ethically and according to legal obligations to protect patients’ confidentiality and privacy
Leadership, management, and teamwork
Ready to perform without supervision
Expected behaviours of a trainee who can routinely perform this activity without needing supervision
The trainee will:
- discuss medical assessments, treatment plans, and investigations with patients and primary care teams, working collaboratively with all
- communicate effectively with team members involved in patients’ care, and with patients, families, and carers
- discuss patients’ care needs with healthcare team members to align them with the appropriate resources
- facilitate an environment in which all team members feel they can contribute and their opinion is valued
- communicate accurately and succinctly, and motivate others on the healthcare team
Requires some supervision
Possible behaviours of a trainee who needs some supervision to perform this activity
The trainee may:
- answer questions from team members
- summarise, clarify, and communicate responsibilities of healthcare team members
- keep healthcare team members focused on patient outcomes
Health policy, systems, and advocacy
Ready to perform without supervision
Expected behaviours of a trainee who can routinely perform this activity without needing supervision
The trainee will:
- collaborate with other services, such as community health centres and consumer organisations, to help patients navigate the healthcare system
- demonstrate awareness of social determinants of health and how these may impact on shared decision making
Requires some supervision
Possible behaviours of a trainee who needs some supervision to perform this activity
The trainee may:
- communicate with and involve other health professionals as appropriate