Objectives/purpose: Clinician-patient communication can significantly influence a patient’s health service experience. Clinician-patient communication has been identified as an important factor to improving patient care and outcomes for First Nations cancer patients. This presentation will report on the development, implementation, and evaluation of Communication Skills Training (CST) to support health professionals providing radiation therapy education to First Nations cancer patients and their families.
Methods: The CST included 3 modules: the principles of cultural safety in healthcare, culturally safe communication, and strategies to deliver patient-centred care for First Nations cancer patients and their families. The modules were developed iteratively with input from key stakeholders, including First Nations health professionals. The modules were delivered online to health professionals from 3 large cancer centres via Qualtrics. Participants completed a pre/post CST survey that included questions on confidence, knowledge, and skills.
Results: A total of 21 participants completed and evaluated the CST modules; most were radiation therapists (n = 13); and over 50% of participants were from one cancer centre. All participants (100%) rated the CST positively (52% ‘very good’, 48% ‘excellent’). Following completion of the CST modules, participants self-reported higher levels of confidence, skills, and knowledge when working with First Nations cancer patients (increase from 66% ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ pre-CST to 91% ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ post-CST).
Conclusion and clinical implications: Providing culturally safe communication skills training is necessary to support health professionals to communicate effectively with First Nations cancer patients, improve their experiences with health services, and to ultimately achieve better cancer outcomes.