The Simulation Team have developed a number of communication workshops which are available for both internal and external staff to attend. These workshops can also be facilitated by the Simulation Team for specific RCH hospital departments.

Supportive Leadership following Challenging Events  

The Simulation team (Dr Jenni Sokol) will be delivering a 3.5 hour course on how to support your staff following challenging events with Psychological First Aid (PFA).  Please note that sessions will be combined for clinical and non-clinical staff in 2024.

This course is generally directed at RCH processes but is generalisable to external participants if they wish to attend.

Exposure to challenging events involving extremely sick children, or non-clinical events involving staff or patient and family interactions, can be distressing. This course aims to provide a framework on how to facilitate immediate “guided reflection” (Psychological First Aid-PFA) around challenging events in order to provide support for staff involved.

Medical, Nursing, Allied Health, and Non-Clinical staff who may be required to facilitate such sessions are encouraged to attend.

This course is currently directed at RCH staff but generalisable to external participants if they wish to attend.

Workshop Dates 2024 

Tuesday 16th April, 2024 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM

Thursday, 10th October 2024 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM  

Fees

FREE for RCH Staff, please register using your RCH email
External Nursing/Allied Health - $225                                   
External Medical - $375               
*All bookings are plus GST and booking fee
Payment can be made with Visa, Mastercard or American Express.

Each course will host a maximum of 18 participants.

Access Supportive Leadership Elearn (you will need to sign into Learning Hero) 

A reminder email will be sent out 2 weeks prior to the event. Please notify us ASAP if are no longer able to attend once booked in as there is often a wait list for this course.

Conflict Resolution

Learn how to address conflict resolution in the workplace. This workshop introduces a framework to address this challenge and involves coaching with case scenarios to practise the framework.

Workshop Dates 2024

Thursday, 18th April 2024 1:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Tuesday, 18th June 2024 1:00 PM - 3:30 PM 

Monday, 25th November 2024 1:00 PM-4:30PM (Opens April)

Fees

FREE for RCH Staff, please register using your RCH email 
External Nursing/Allied Health - $100              
External Medical - $175               
*All bookings are plus GST and booking fee 
Payment can be made with Visa, Mastercard or American Express.

Minimum 4 to run session and maximum of 15 for optimal experience. 

Foundations of Communication

Learn how to utilise key communication skills with a defined communication framework to facilitate effective communication with patients and parents. The workshop includes coaching with the framework using case scenarios, followed by participation in simulated scenarios an actor and a debrief to enable reflective discussion around these difficult situations.

Workshop Dates 2024 

Thursday, 14th March 2024 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Thursday, 20th June 2024 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Monday, 23rd September 2024 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM (Opens in April)

Fees

FREE for RCH Staff, please register using your RCH email 
External Nursing/Allied Health - $200              
External Medical - $395               
*All bookings are plus GST and booking fee 
Payment can be made with Visa, Mastercard or American Express.

Minimum 4 to run session and maximum of 15 for optimal experience. 

Family Violence Workshop

Communicating with families in the face of potential Family Violence (In conjunction with the Social Work department)

Learn the skills to identify and respond to families where family violence may have occurred. The workshop includes coaching with a specific framework using case scenarios, followed by participation in simulated scenarios an actor and a debrief to enable reflective discussion around these difficult situations.

Workshop Dates 2024

Thursday, 18th July 2024 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Monday, 7th October 2024 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM 

Fees

FREE for RCH Staff, please register using your RCH email                
*All bookings are plus GST and booking fee 
Payment can be made with Visa, Mastercard or American Express.

Minimum 4 to run session and maximum of 15 for optimal experience. 

Challenges in Clinical Supervision

This 2-hour program is designed for nursing, medical, and allied health staff in roles that involve supervising more junior staff. The workshop includes discussion around some of the challenges that fall to clinical supervisors and strategies to approach them. There will be an opportunity to practice applying the principles and to receive coaching.

Workshop Dates 2024

Thursday, 19th September 2024 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Thursday, 10th October 2024 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM 

FREE for RCH Staff, please register using your RCH email                

Minimum 4 to run session and maximum of 15 for optimal experience. 

Open Disclosure

This 3 hour workshop that utilises the RCH framework for Open Disclosure. Learn how to “openly disclose” a critical incident to parents following a clinical event that may have impacted their child, through a workshop, role plays, and simulations with an actor.

Workshop Dates 2024

TBC

Fees

FREE for RCH Staff; please register using your RCH email

Minimum 4 to run session and maximum of 15 for optimal experience.

Giving and Receiving Feedback

This 2.5 hour interactive workshop includes discussion around the challenges of giving and receiving feedback followed by coaching and practise with a communication framework in order to provide constructive feedback to peers, colleagues or friends.

Speaking Up for Safety (Previously Graded Assertiveness)

This is a 2 hour interactive workshop where participants will learn how to provide graded assertiveness in difficult situations with a defined communication framework.

Facilitating Challenging Conversations

This is a 3.5 hour workshop where participants learn to utilise key communication skills with a defined communication framework when facilitating challenging conversations to patients and parents.  The workshop includes coaching with the framework with case scenarios followed by participation in simulated scenarios taken from real situations, with an actor, and a debrief to enable reflective discussion around these often difficult situations.

Workshop Dates 2024

Request a communication workshop for your department or ward

Other available Communication Workshops

The P.A.U.S.E Simulation Program

This simulation session is a 2 hour simulation program supported by the RCH Simulation Team, and facilitated as a subset of the monthly Code Grey team. 

The program, Paediatric Approaches to Understanding Safe deEscaltion – or PAUSE – is designed to help teams manage aggression or difficult conversations, and approach acutely distressed patients and their families with a trauma informed lens, while still implementing safe boundaries for all. 

This Core Competency based training is designed to incorporate Primary, Secondary and Tertiary interventions.

There is also an emphasis on trauma informed care principles and communication.

Please contact PAUSE.training@rch.org.au.for further information.

The RCH Simulation Team have developed and delivered a number of varied communication programs, which can be adapted to different environments and departmental/ward situations, including:

·       Clinical Handover

·       Grief and Loss

·       Building trust in teams

·       Varied programs on different aspects of “Facilitating Challenging Conversations” such as, Difficult conversations over the phone, Supporting and Dealing with Aggressive Families

If you are interested in the RCH Simulation Team facilitating these or other communication programs for your teams, please contact Simulation@rch.org.au for further inquiries.