PedsTalk: Improving Communication Skills Training for Pediatric Faculty Through Interdepartmental Collaboration (S518)

1. Understand pediatric clinicians’ previous experiences with communication skills training 2. Describe participants’ experiences with our pediatrics-focused course 3. Describe a novel approach to providing communication skills training to pediatric clinicians in settings with limited pediatric palliative care presence Pediatric clinicians face unique communication challenges, and yet many have not received formal communication skills training tailored to the needs of children and their caregivers. In many institutions, including ours, well-developed communication skills programs exist in subspecialties of adult medicine. Toassess pediatric clinicians’ need for communication skills training and explore the suitability of PedsTalk as a way to meet potential need. Weselected the VitalTalk Virtual Mastering Tough Conversations framework to create a serious illness communication training course, adapted from focused materials for pediatricians created by the TalkVermont team at the University of Vermont. We embarked on a unique collaboration between pediatric and geriatric/palliative care faculty to train pediatric clinicians in communication skills. We asked participants to complete a survey immediately before and after the course. We then conducted a thematic analysis to identify key themes. Twelvephysicians representing a range of pediatric subspecialties participated in our PedsTalk course. Participants reported limited prior training and exposures that influenced how they conduct difficult conversations with families. These were parsed into four themes: personal experience, observation, training, and clinical experience. We identified four themes in relation to need for training: lack of guidance, role modeling, providing good care, and “pediatrics is different.” Regarding lessons learned as a result of participating in the PedsTalk course, participants identified many key VitalTalk components, including responding to emotion, REMAP framework, power of silence, asking permission, values-centered care, taking time. and preparation. All participants who completed the post-course survey reported finding the course useful. Pediatric clinicians identify an unmet need for communication skills training. PedsTalk appears to be a viable approach to meeting that need. Our work highlights a need for pediatric communication skills training and describes a novel, feasible means of providing such training in institutions with limited pediatric palliative care presence.