Impacting Healthcare Communication (IHC) teaches a critical set of communication competencies that healthcare professionals must demonstrate for the delivery of high-quality care.

Organizational Goals: Allegheny Health Network (AHN)’s goal is to provide communication support to providers, clinicians and staff amidst changing and stressful dynamics.  Organizations that implement these principles demonstrate improved provider experiences, patient experiences, and outcomes.  Alongside improvements in communication, this program also created opportunities to build relationships, restore empathy and develop leadership and influence.

Program Content:  The I.H.C. learning program encourages skill development through conversation, reflection, and feedback.  The I.H.C. program features a set of communication skills proven to improve patient and clinician experiences. Participants in the standard one-day workshop learn to: Create rapport quickly; Elicit the list of ALL concerns; Negotiate the agenda; Open the conversation; Explore perspective and name emotions; Respond with empathy; Share the information with ART loops; Assess understanding with teach-back; Close the visit.

Interactive Learning: Participants attend live, interactive in-person sessions facilitated by their peers.  The in-person experience enables high-touch engagement, with 75% of the session involving active engagement in small group activities.

Peer to Peer Training: Sessions are run using the peer-to-peer model, led by facilitators from within our institution who have been certified by ACH to teach relationship-centered communication at AHN.