About Us
Time to Talk CARDIO is an educational program paid for by Merck and developed in partnership with the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation, Canyon Ranch Institute and RIASWorks. Time to Talk CARDIO aims to help patients and health care professionals make the most of their conversations by building communication skills to help better manage heart health.
Mission and Objectives
Time to Talk CARDIO is dedicated to advancing cardiovascular health by helping to improve the dialogue between patients and health care professionals.
Time to Talk CARDIO is committed to:
- Raising awareness of the clinical impact of the current dialogue between patients and health care professionals on cardiovascular disease management
- Engaging patients and health care professionals in a solution to help improve the dialogue through skill-building training
- Helping to impact cardiovascular disease patient health outcomes
Why is Effective Communication So Important?
It has been estimated that a primary care physician will conduct between 120,000 and 160,000 patient visits over a 40-year professional career. While the specifics of care vary widely, the one common activity to all visits is communication.
Health care professionals may help build and maintain a stronger therapeutic relationship with each patient by addressing education and adherence challenges through communication skill-building.
The Time to Talk CARDIO communication skill-building tool was modeled after an evidence-based communication framework. LEAPS, an acronym developed to assist health care providers in their everyday communication with patients, addresses five key medical interview functions:
LISTENING – The act of eliciting responses and listening
EDUCATING AND COUNSELING – Giving information and building patient confidence
ASSESSING – Monitoring patient adherence in a non-judgmental way
PARTNERING – Establishing a collaborative partnership to create a workable plan
SUPPORTING AND BUILDING RAPPORT – Establishing a strong therapeutic relationship
Studies find that patient recall of instructions, satisfaction with care, adherence to medical recommendations and appointment keeping are consistently related to
communication skills.
Research
Piloted in 2009 by American Academy of Family Physicians' practices in Missouri, North Carolina and Mississippi, initial research among 144 patients showed that the Time to Talk CARDIO program significantly increased overall use of communication skills and improved overall satisfaction with medical visits. Likewise, preliminary testing with 24 health care professionals also reported a significant increase in overall communication skill use and statistically significant improvement in overall satisfaction with visit communication. In separate research conducted with 100 patients at the Oregon Health & Science University in conjunction with Canyon Ranch Institute, results found a significant improvement in several dimensions of effective patient-provider communication and satisfaction, however; they did not show a statistically significant overall change. The program is currently being used in health care settings across the United States, and several physician practices are continuing to assess Time to Talk CARDIO in 2010.
Additional Information
Time to Talk CARDIO is an educational program paid for by Merck and developed in partnership with the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation, Canyon Ranch Institute and RIASWorks.
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