Hostage negotiator to speak at RCPI conference

A former top hostage and crisis negotiator will be speaking at the RCPI ‘Patient Safety Through Better Communication’ conference taking place on Wednesday 19 June.

Ms Cathy MacDonald served with Police Scotland for over 30 years and is now coaching communication through her business, ‘Art of Communication’.

Ms MacDonald will be speaking at the event with the aim of teaching medics how to strategically communicate in challenging situations in healthcare.

“I’m very proud to be asked to come to such a prestigious event and I’m quite humbled. I want to make medical professionals’ busy days a bit easier” Ms MacDonald told the Medical Independent (MI).

“I’ll give them tactics that will work exceptionally well even in the most challenging of circumstances. They can adopt them or just weave them into what they already do… Some of [what] I speak about will be shortcuts for when time is tight.”

The conference aims to equip medical professionals with the tools required to communicate in a tactical manner to eliminate errors that occur due to weak communication in healthcare. It will enable medics to deliver better care through improving communication skills with patients, their families and fellow medical colleagues.

Some of the other speakers delivering talks at the conference include Dr Austin O’Carroll, Inner City Dublin GP and Paralympic sailor, Dr Carl Horsley, Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine in New Zealand, Dr Maeve Hurley, former GP and founder of Ag Éisteacht, Dr Dara Byrne, Lecturer in simulation training in University Hospital Galway and Dr Dorothy Breen, Consultant Anaesthesiologist in Cork University Hospital.

Tickets are €75 and are available through the RCPI website:

https://www.rcpi.ie/store/2018-patient-safety-through-better-communication#.XO_8iuTCm2M.link

The full interview with Ms MacDonald will appear in a future issue of MI