Communication and Interprofessional Collaboration
Domain 5 - Communication and Interprofessional Collaboration
This domain tests whether you can get information from a patient, give information so that it is understood, and work with other professionals so that the plan actually happens.
Communicating with patients
- Open with an agenda-setting question and open-ended prompts; use plain language and chunk-and-check rather than a monologue.
- Teach-back: ask the patient to explain the plan in their own words, correct misunderstandings, and re-check.
- Motivational interviewing: open questions, affirmations, reflections and summaries. Elicit the patient's own reasons for change instead of arguing for them.
- Health literacy and numeracy matter: insulin units, inhaler technique and dosing intervals are common failure points. Use a trained interpreter, not a family member, when language is a barrier.
- Cultural safety means asking rather than assuming, and being aware of mistrust rooted in colonial health policies and of traditional medicine use.
- Counselling duties: new prescriptions, changed doses, high-alert drugs, devices and significant OTC recommendations must be counselled and documented.
Collaborating with other professionals
- Use structured tools: SBAR for urgent handover; a clear recommendation with its rationale when proposing therapy.
- Know the difference between consultation (you advise; the prescriber decides) and delegated authority (a medical directive or collaborative agreement authorizes you to act).
- Close the loop: confirm the recommendation was received, document who agreed, and set the follow-up.
- Resolve disagreement by returning to evidence and patient goals, not hierarchy.
Worked example
Three months after a myocardial infarction, a patient has stopped ticagrelor, saying it "made me feel awful and I felt fine anyway."
- Reasoning: the patient's experience is the data. Lecturing about stent thrombosis rarely changes behaviour.
- Action: ask what the experience was like, reflect it back, then ask what would make continuing worthwhile; explore cost, bruising or dosing concerns; correct the misconception about how long the drug is needed; agree on a plan; document; and inform the cardiology team.
Traps that cost marks
- Delivering a monologue and closing with "Any questions?"
- Asking "Do you understand?" - the answer is almost always yes.
- Speaking to a family member instead of the patient without consent.
- Documenting "counselled" without recording any content.
- Making a recommendation and assuming it was acted on.