Lightning Talk Description: The lightning talk will discuss the design, implementation, and qualitative evaluation of an innovative interprofessional workshop that engages musicians with medical and pharmacy students. Musicians actively demonstrated nonverbal communication skills to participating students and provided them with tools to hone these skills in their patient care delivery and team interactions in preparation for collaborative practice.
Objective
The importance of non-verbal communication on patient care has been well established in the literature. However, few health professional curricula teach these skills. Musicians employ non-verbal communication to coordinate their performances. Observation of musicians' use of non-verbal communication may improve the understanding and acquisition of these skills by healthcare professional students.
Methods
A total of 65 medical and 50 pharmacy students attended a workshop with a string quartet. Following a performance by the musicians, students and musicians engaged in activities to practice the non-verbal communication strategies employed by the quartet to optimize their delivery.
Authors provided pre- and post-surveys, which included closed and open-ended questions to assess understanding of underlying themes of non-verbal communication with patients and interprofessional teams. An inductive qualitative analysis was performed on open-ended questions to identify emergent non-verbal communication themes.
Results
Of the 115 students who attended the workshop, 105 students (91%) completed the pre-survey, and 94 students (82%) completed the post-survey. 52% medical and 29.5% pharmacy students had prior instrumental or vocal musical training. Comparison demonstrated improvement in students' knowledge in appreciating the influence of nonverbal communication with patients and teams (60.5% pre vs 72% post workshop).
Before the workshop, students identified the most important nonverbal communication cues they look for in patients’ interactions as eye contact (96.5%), body language (79.8%), facial expressions (45.6%), and emotional intelligence (20.7%). After completion of the workshop, emerging nonverbal communication strategies/themes emphasized team rehearsal/planning (59.7%) and paralinguistics (38.6%).
Conclusion
Healthcare professionals and musicians employ similar strategies to perform in teams and deliver specialized tasks; effective nonverbal communication is crucial to both. Engagement with musicians may serve as a vehicle to instruct students on non-verbal communication.
In support of improving patient care, this activity is planned and implemented by The National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education Office of Interprofessional Continuing Professional Development (National Center OICPD). The National Center OICPD is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
As a Jointly Accredited Provider, the National Center is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. The National Center maintains responsibility for this course. Social workers completing this course receive continuing education credits.
The National Center OICPD (JA#: 4008105) is approved by the Board of Certification, Inc. to provide continuing education to Athletic Trainers (ATs).
This activity was planned by and for the healthcare team, and learners will receive Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) credit for learning and change.
Physicians: The National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education designates this live activity for AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with their participation.
Physician Assistants: The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) accepts credit from organizations accredited by the ACCME.
Nurses: Participants will be awarded contact hours of credit for attendance at this workshop.
Nurse Practitioners: The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Program (AANPCP) accepts credit from organizations accredited by the ACCME and ANCC.
Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians: This activity is approved for contact hours.
Athletic Trainers: This program is eligible for Category A hours/CEUs. ATs should claim only those hours actually spent in the educational program.
Social Workers: As a Jointly Accredited Organization, the National Center is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. The National Center maintains responsibility for this course. Social workers completing this course receive continuing education credits.
IPCE: This activity was planned by and for the healthcare team, and learners will receive Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) credits for learning and change.
Learners can claim CE credit by completing the Daily Evaluation.
