Institute for Healthcare Communication

Description

IHC is an independent nonprofit, accredited by ACCME, AAFP and AANC (through a co-providership with the University of Pittsburgh). We have been designing and conducting communication and coaching skills programs since 1987. We don’t do IT or PR; our focus is the person-to-person interactions between clinicians and patients/families, and within healthcare teams that are critical drivers of patient engagement and satisfaction.

All our training curricula are highly experiential and evidence-based. The research evidence is clear that clinicians with strong communication skills have better diagnostic accuracy, suffer fewer complaints and malpractice suits, and they-and their patients-are more satisfied. Once learners master even just a few skills (e.g., open-ended questions, empathic responses, ask-tell-ask) they find they are more efficient as well as more effective. We believe strong communication skills are important to care, and equally important to avoiding physician burn-out.