Top Tips for Telephone Consultations

Advice for effective telephone consultations:

Adapted from work by Kelly Skelly and Marcy Rosenbaum, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics

Remove distractions – avoid multi-tasking

• Identify the patient
• Check that it is a good time to talk (safe/confidential)
• Warm greeting – smile!!
• Warm tone of voice, verbal encouragements

• “uh huh, OK etc.”

• Try to connect on a personal level

• Refer to previous calls, do you know the patient or their family already?

• Summarise periodically

Pacing and Language

• Speak slowly and clearly
• Avoid jargon
• Pause after asking questions
• Give patient space to ask questions

Empathy

• • Use explicit empathic statements – “that sounds really tough”

Agenda Setting

• • Find out the patient’s ideas, concerns and expectations
  • Negotiate what can’t be covered in this call

Ending the call

• • Signpost – “We have just a couple of minutes left, I want to go over what we have discussed and plan the next steps”
  • Clarify the plan
  • What happens next?
  • Safety netting