INTERPERSONAL AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS
A. Objectives
1. Level I
a. The residents are expected to learn sufficient communication
skills to be able to effectively procure clinical information, explain
his/her own thought processes in arriving at a diagnostic
conclusion, produce a coherent and concise pathology report,
and effectively communicate routine test results to clinicians and
pathologists.
b. Appropriate interaction with fellow residents, faculty, clinicians,
and hospital staff is expected.
2. Level II
a. Demonstrate mastery of all of the objectives from the Level I
rotation.
b. Senior residents may be given permission, with supervision, to
communicate results of more complicated cases to clinicians
and pathologists. This will require knowledge of the significance
of the reported diagnostic findings and clearly explaining the
results (including morphologic findings and ancillary studies) to
clinicians, residents, and students.
c. Senior residents may assist in supervising and teaching medical
students and junior residents on service.
B. Plan
1. How does the resident learn the skills necessary for effective
personal interaction and communication?
a. Level I and II
1. Effective personal interaction and communication is
learned in the course of a resident’s daily duties including,
but not limited to, contacting clinicians to obtain additional
historical information, interacting with the faculty and staff
of other laboratories such as flow cytometry, cytogenetics,
molecular diagnosis, and surgical pathology, and
discussions with the attending hematopathologist.
2. Presentations at conferences are important to facilitating
development of effective communication skills.
C. Supervision/Assessment
1. How are the resident’s interpersonal and communication skills
assessed and by whom?
a. Levels I and II
1. Interpersonal and communication skills will be assessed
through direct observation by hematopathology faculty,
fellows and clinicians and quality of case presentations.
2. The rotation director will discuss verbal and written
assessments provided by faculty, fellows, supporting staff,
and clinicians at both the midpoint and endpoint of the
rotation.