RUHS Doctors Tackle the Art of Communication at National Conference
Two Riverside University Health System – Medical Center doctors got to break out their tool kit for how to communicate more skillfully when they presented to their peers at a national pediatrics conference earlier this month in Chicago.
Dr. Alexandra Clark, RUHS-MC Chief Medical Officer, and Dr. Gabrielle Pina, the RUHS Pediatric Primary Care Track director, analyzed common roadblocks medical professionals experience when communicating. They addressed those hurdles when they participated in a presentation titled, “Leading Beyond Words: Harnessing Our Personalities, Improvisation, and Past Traumas for Effective Leadership Communication.”
The talk took place at the Association of Pediatric Program Directors 2024 Annual Spring Meeting in Chicago on April 18. Pediatric residency program directors and coordinators from across the United States were in attendance.
“It’s important for leaders in the medical field to recognize how behavioral styles, past trauma and perceptions can shape our interactions with others, and how modifying our communication style can help us break down barriers,” Clark said. “We used a mix of didactic teaching and experiential scenarios to help conference participants think about these things.”
Clark focused on how a person’s behavioral style affects the way they interact with medical students, interns, residents and fellows as well as colleagues and patients. Since behaviors are modifiable, the focus is on recognizing and responding appropriately in the moment.
Pina explored how trauma and past experiences can inform communication. Using the “A Fly in the Buttermilk” concept, she examined challenges faced by clinicians when they feel hyper-visible or isolated. Another impactful narrative can be that the learner never feels that they are good enough and have something to prove.
The presentation also tackled the issue of an individual’s perceived status and the effect it can have on a conversation. Clark noted that a department chair or a chief medical officer may not think much of talking to an intern, but the intern could place great emphasis on that same communication. A comment a medical leader finds innocuous or harmless could come across as stressful or even intimidating to the receiver of the information.
The presentation included a segment to instruct doctors on how they can take what they’ve learned during the conference back to their medical centers, thereby amplifying the reach of the presentation and improving communication nationally.
The Association of Pediatric Program Directors has more than 4,000 members from over 200 institutions. Its mission includes ensuring the health and well-being of children, advancing medical education, cultivating an inclusive clinical learning environment and promoting innovations and research. The Annual Spring Meeting allows participants to network, hear from key stakeholders in the field of pediatrics and learn some best practices in medical education.
This year’s conference took place April 16-19 at the Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk.