About PPC
What is patient-provider communication?
Patient-provider communication is the shared and mutually understood exchange of information between a patient and their provider. Without this "joint establishment of meaning," patients are at increased risk for adverse events during medical care. Achieving successful patient-provider communication promotes shared respect, preserved dignity, empowered autonomy, and meaningful interaction in a health care context.
Communication between the patient and the provider should be conveyed and comprehended by the most accessible means including, but not limited to, access to sensory aids including glasses and listening devices, use of spoken language, written text, picture or photograph symbol representation, gestures, facial cues, other physical behaviors or nonverbal communication methods, use of augmentative and alternative communication tools and strategies, and language interpretation or translation. Patient-provider communication must support patients and family members with respect to their cultural preferences, age, cognitive and physical ability, and health literacy level.
About the Patient-Provider Communication Network
The Patient Provider Communication Network (PPCN) is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to improving patient-provider communication across the healthcare continuum. As a national and international collaborative network, we strive to promote information sharing, cooperation, and collaboration among individuals who are committed to ensuring effective communication across healthcare settings and situations--from a doctor's office, emergency room, clinic, ICU, acute care and rehabilitation hospital, home health service and hospice. We also address preparing individuals with communication challenges for future medical encounters.
Participants bring together a range of perspectives and experience with an inter-professional focus. The group works to share knowledge and resources and to raise awareness at both practice and policy levels in an effort to overcome existing communication barriers and increase communication access across health care settings in ways that benefit patients, their family members, providers and health care institutions.
The Patient-Provider Communication Forum seeks to achieve shared learning about patient-provider communication through:
- bi-monthly conference calls among forum participants
- an interactive website and social media accounts for sharing resources and tools
- collaborative projects such as resource provision, position papers, presentations, and research studies that intersect across areas of interest
- shared conversations about a range of topics, such as setting up a patient centered communication program in a hospital, emergency preparedness for people with access and functional needs, communication access in intensive care units (ICUs), cultural humility, patient-centered care, and patient safety
- information about specific populations and/or healthcare settings
- information about how speech-language pathologists and other professionals can help prepare their patients/clients for future medical encounters
Board of Directors:
- President: Dr. Jessica Gormley
- Vice President: Tami Altschuler
- Secretary/Treasurer: Rachel Santiago
The Patient-Provider Communication Network is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. EIN: 39-2733265.