Radiology departments have a wide range of interactions with patients including receptionists, appointment schedulers, healthcare assistants, nurses, radiographers and clerical staff. Effective communication between radiologists and other staff can help optimize department workflows and patient satisfaction.
Radiologists must communicate their findings clearly and concisely. They also have the responsibility to maintain medical confidentiality and not cause unnecessary alarm or anxiety in patients.
1. Listen to Your Team
Creating an environment where radiologists and technologists communicate openly and honestly is critical to the success of a radiology department. But that communication isn’t always easy. You need to practice management systems. Managers must be prepared to hear things they don’t want to hear and address them head on, even if it makes the team uncomfortable initially.
To encourage your employees to share their opinions and ideas, listen attentively to them when they do speak up. Showing that you value what they have to say will make them feel comfortable enough to continue to share their thoughts in the future.
A recent study published in Frontiers in Psychology found that people who feel valued are more likely to be engaged and productive at work. Aside from demonstrating appreciation for your employees’ input, another way to do this is by actively listening to their comments and questions during every interaction. This means shutting down your phone, avoiding distractions and making eye contact with them when they talk.
It’s also important to use active listening skills, such as paraphrasing what you have heard and asking follow-up questions. This will help you better understand what they are saying and avoid any misunderstandings. In addition, it’s important to be aware of your body language and avoid interrupting with nonverbal cues such as crossing your arms or rolling your eyes, which can signal that you are not engaged with them.
In addition to using active listening techniques, it’s important to be clear in your communication and provide examples when necessary. This will help your employees understand complex concepts, especially if they are unfamiliar with them.
Lastly, it’s crucial to remember that the relationships between technologists and radiologists are two-sided: While radiologists set the imaging standards and protocols for procedures, it is the technologists who perform the exams and deliver the results to the physician. Therefore, it’s vital for a good working relationship between the two groups that technologists “have the radiologists’ back,” says Berlin.
To this end, he recommends holding periodic meetings just to talk with technologists. He notes that at his hospital, these monthly meetings are a great way to keep the lines of communication open between the two groups.
2. Practice Makes Perfect
As we all know, “practice makes perfect.” However, it is not enough to simply teach a new skill or concept to students once and then expect them to remember it for the rest of their lives. To be truly effective, new knowledge and skills must be practiced regularly to the point of automaticity and mastery.
This includes both verbal and nonverbal communication, as well as written communication. In fact, a significant percentage of respondents reported that written communication is one of their most important skills to develop and utilize in practice.
Practicing a variety of strategies and learning how to use them in different contexts is essential to ensuring that the techniques taught in training are retained for daily clinical practice. It is also crucial to recognize and respond to a patient’s emotional cues, which can be challenging for radiation oncologists who may not have had formal education in this area.
A recently published study demonstrated that patients were more satisfied with the way radiation oncologists communicated during initial consultations when they had received longitudinal, integrated health literacy and clear communication lessons compared to those who had received episodic lessons over a shorter time period. They were also more likely to use open-ended phrases when asking patients for questions and not display discouraging body language like shaking their heads side to side or frowning.
3. Lead by Example
Creating trust has long been a priority among medical professionals. This is especially important in radiology, where interactions with patients are often limited to written reports, telephone conversations, or in multidisciplinary meetings. The good news is that rebuilding trust in a radiology department can be done, but it takes time and consistent action. In the meantime, it’s critical for radiologist to lead by example and provide clear and effective communication.
The first step in creating a culture of transparency and openness is to provide training to all staff who interact with patients. This includes receptionists, appointment schedulers, healthcare assistants, porters, radiographers, nurses and radiologists. This training should focus on the importance of communicating clearly with patients and include a detailed discussion about how to avoid miscommunication. It should also cover the importance of patient-centered care and how to deliver bad news in a supportive environment.
Next, a radiology leader should consider how they personally interact with their patients. They should practice active listening skills, use appropriate language and avoid jargon, and encourage questions. They should also be able to read body language and provide feedback to their team members. Finally, they should always make a point to share positive stories and show compassion for their patients.
As part of the process, a radiology department should also evaluate its performance and identify areas for improvement. This can be achieved through regular analysis of turnaround times, report accuracy, and patient satisfaction scores. This information can help radiology leaders to develop achievable goals and track their progress over time.
As the healthcare climate shifts towards value-based care, radiologists will need to be more actively involved in the patient experience. This means increasing their interaction with referring clinicians and patients, as well as improving the quality of their written reporting. By implementing patient-centered communication and reporting strategies, radiologists can ensure their patients understand the results of their imaging studies and feel confident in their diagnoses. This will ultimately improve the overall patient experience and enhance satisfaction.
4. Ask for Feedback
In a 2022 study, medical students who participated in longitudinal courses that included clear and plain language and health literacy lessons demonstrated better understanding of the benefits of open-ended phrasing. These students also demonstrated less discouraging body language that discourages patients from asking questions.
Frontline managers in a qualitative interview study identified the desire to facilitate a positive experience for patients as their main internal motivating factor. They also cited department emphasis on service recovery as an external motivation. However, the success of this initiative relies on tactful follow-up and enough staffing support to ensure consistent delivery.
Whether you’re looking to make long-term systematic improvements or simply tidy up policies, consider creating a department-wide process for regular meetings that involve representatives from all roles. This may not only improve communication, but it can help identify areas of confusion or misunderstanding and provide opportunities for cross-discipline problem-solving. For example, a WE Team could include physicists, dosimetrists, therapists, nurses, and administrative staff to discuss common issues and find solutions. This is a great way to get everyone on the same page, which ultimately helps in improving patient outcomes.