Relationship Centred Communication skills for Audiologists
At university you learn all the clinical skills needed to become great Audiologists but sometimes the skills you need to help support your every day in consultative environment are missed.
Our relationship centred communication skills course bridges the academic work you have learnt with the communication skills you need to learn to guide someone through the emotional process of change encountered when they are suffering from age related hearing loss.
What is this relationship centred communication skill course going to offer me?
You spend so much time learning clinical skills at University but some of the softer skills needed to help people adopt your recommendations for help are often overlooked. Resistance to change is a natural human behaviour and this course helps you recognise the key emotions and behaviours of people who have hearing loss and how you can address these behaviours.
Often, as Audiologists, we only focus on the medical side of the consultation, the important diagnostics of the medical condition, and the chronic care side of the problem is often overlooked. This course introduces you to a holistic approach to care, helping you make your patients feel comfortable to have a conversation with you to share key facts, empowering them to take key actions and adopt your recommendations to address their hearing loss.
What are the key modules in this course?
There are 6 modules in this course that can be watched in your own time and even as a podcast if you’re short on time!
Module 1 – Understanding the emotional consequences of hearing loss deep dives into identifying the stage your patient is at in the acceptance of their condition and how willing they are to adopt a hearing loss management plan including wearing a hearing aid.
Module 2 – This module focuses on building trust and rapport with you patient and why trust really matters. We do not want people to feel pressured into make a decision, to feel rushed through their appointment or to feel like they are not being listened to. Brian runs through how we can reinforce trust between yourself and the patient through transparent communication and taking the time to get to know their needs and desires.
Module 3 – In this module Brian talks about building a desire to act which focuses on helping the patient build confidence so they are willing to take some action to address their hearing loss.
Module 4 – Getting and keeping a commitment to act focuses on guiding the person with hearing loss through the process of change and how this would change their daily lives. Brian focuses on how you can help paint a picture for your patients and he gives some really useful tips to help you do this.
Module 5 – When making a recommendation to a patient it is common for them to come up with a list of objections. In this module Brian equips you with some tools to help you uncover, address and overcome patient objections. You need to expect objections and he helps you come up with a couple of different plans to overcome these requests for clarity or additional information.
Module 6 – In this module, Brian covers skills to boost active listening when in a consultation with a patient. Building your skills to become a better active, reflective listener always needs your time and attention and you should always be thinking of ways to improve these listening skills.
This course is FREE for Audiologists and you can register by visiting the link below. We truly hope you find this course useful. It would be great to get any feedback on the course to help us improve and adapt it for future Audiologists.