Multidisciplinary Team Working toolkit
Expanding practice teams brings the opportunity to embed new skills into primary care, widens the range of services offered by general practice and works towards resolving some of the challenges currently faced in primary care.
Microskills for interprofessional communication
All Allied Health Professions (AHPs) and clinical supervisors have different training and experience. This can make it difficult for the supervisee and supervisor to share information efficiently and effectively. Particularly if both are doing clinics and have patients waiting. It is important to have information signposted and presented in a structured format.
How to Present a Patient Case: The Signpost Method
Watch the University of Calgary video on the Signpost Method of case presentation. This is a simple way for AHPs to present to their sessional clinical supervisor:
'This is a [age] year old male/female who has had [symptoms] for [unit of time] and I am concerned about possible [issues]. I am not sure what is wrong with the patient? Or I am not sure what treatment to give? Or I am unsure what tests I should consider?'
As a supervisor you could say
'Can you give a brief summary of the case and signpost me to the specific issues you are concerned about?'
SBAR
Particularly for communication over the phone to hospital
SBAR communication tool – situation, background ...
Quality, Service Improvement and Redesign Tools: SBAR communication tool –
- situation
- background
- assessment
- recommendation
RSVP: Reason - Story - Vital Signs - Plan
This tool is to enable you to communicate information effectively about deteriorating patients to another and has been used extensively in the Wessex region since 2009.6.7
| RSVP | Example |
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R = Reason
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S = Story
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V = Vital signs
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P = Plan
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International
A useful tool from Australia is the Ossie Guide to Clinical Handover.
They use another handover tool: ISBAR which adds identification (I) to the SBAR model in 2.