Communication Skills

Advocacy and bedside care came together on the final morning of SMACC 2019. This report explores violence prevention, climate change and emergency care in Malawi, alongside debates about resuscitation, intubation and the balance between ultrasound technology and clinicians’ skills.

The second morning of SMACC 2019 combined innovation with difficult bedside decisions. Topics included productivity, research and CODA’s launch, followed by trauma-related hypotension, severe asthma, uncertainty in sepsis care and a debate about fluids in critical care.

The October 2018 podcast roundup revisits a month of learning and reflection at St Emlyn’s. Its written reading guide links discussions of cricoid pressure, resuscitation, teaching in pressured settings and the pursuit of excellence, alongside FemInEM conference reflections and a personal account of PTSD and therapy.

Does describing clinical work as ‘sexy’ matter? In this FemInEM Ideas Exchange 2018 talk, Natalie May challenges the language of medicine through gender stereotypes, colleagues’ experiences and patients’ perspectives. She also reflects on the social media response and how curiosity and respectful conversation can help us reconsider familiar words.

Heidi Edmundson describes bringing Forum Theatre into the emergency department to explore communication, power and staff wellbeing. By replaying difficult situations with audience members trying alternative responses, the project gave colleagues a way to examine everyday tensions together and consider how interactions might change.

Stevan Bruijns offers a personal perspective on codependency in emergency care, exploring overcommitment, conflict and the roles of victim, rescuer and persecutor. This deliberately challenging reflection asks how clinicians might recognise unhelpful relationship patterns and make space for their own wellbeing.