As far as anxiety-inducing situations go, there was one task that, in my early days of being a new NP, caused me to feel unusually… sweaty:

Calling a consult was one of the most intimidating parts of my day in the ED. I’m not typically a nervous person, but navigating this conversation within the “charged” relationship between NP’s and physicians used to feel daunting. 

In truth, I wanted to be taken seriously. I wanted my decisions and assessments to be valued. And I wanted to be a strong, positive influence with the ability to powerfully and respectfully communicate with my professional colleagues. So what did I do about it?

Over the years, I’ve refined my approach for calling effective consults. 

There’s a certain level of thought and finesse that goes into building good rapport and fostering collaborative conversations.

In today’s short and sweet episode, we’ll be discussing:

• Why and how to ask actionable questions
• The “mirror” story and how implementing this behaviour helps control and improve the quality of patient care
• How to intro your consult so that you can effectively “hook” the physician in on a collaborative conversation
• How to communicate the corroborating information about your patient
• Dr. Chad Kessler’s 5 Framework For Calling A Consult that you can use in the emergency department (or adapt to any specialty)
• The part of the consult you can’t prepare for – How to handle push back on your decision making

I also share a few word-for-word dialogue examples for each, including how to disclose yourself if you’re a student.

This episode is great for nurse practitioner students and new NP’s – especially if you’re in a rotation where you’re calling physicians or other providers with clinical questions. 

LINKS & RESOURCES MENTIONED TODAY: 

• RebelEM.com 
• Dr. Chad Kessler’s 5 C Framework For Calling a Consult
• HelloFresh has been a lifesaver to me as a working mom with three little kids! I only wish I had used this meal delivery kit earlier…like when I was working nights in the ED! You can get $40 your first box by using my refer-a-friend link here: https://www.theresumerx.com/fresh

Listen to more episodes here!