On my desk reside several personal objects of great significance. My screaming goat (a gift from a friend); a photo of my children when they were small, all smiling in adorable matching outfits; a clay platypus made for me by my youngest son when he was 6; and one of my most treasured possessions: my mom’s nursing license from the State of California.

I lost my mom in 2017 and think of her often while I’m working. That might seem like a strange thought to carry with me during my sometimes hectic workdays, but the significance of my mom’s career in healthcare—and its impact on my own—is not lost on me, especially now, when the stakes are higher than they have ever been.

On Tuesday, April 12th, Crucial Learning will launch Crucial Conversations for Mastering Dialogue Healthcare. This new course features videos, scenarios, and exercises specific to the challenges healthcare professionals face. All of the content has been updated to reflect a modern and diverse workforce.

Now, when helping your learners Get Unstuck, you will help them see the need through watching Karina, a nurse leader, discuss a staffing concern with her supervisor.

You’ll also recognize familiar exercises like the Angry Accountant that are adapted to a healthcare setting. Seek Mutual Purpose is taught through the lens of Charla, a nurse with seniority, debating with fellow nurse Troy, who gets to take time off for a holiday.

While previewing this much-needed training, I thought of my friend who recently found herself at the ER with her husband, who has been battling cancer.

Sarah and Mike (not their real names) went into this visit expecting outpatient treatment for a simple infection.

After arriving at the ER, emotions began running high for both Sarah and the ER doctor. In a moment of frustration, Sarah posted on social media, describing the tense situation and saying she had made the doctor very angry.

Many of Sarah’s friends were quick to come to her defense with comments like, “You have to be a loud advocate! That’s the only way to make doctors hear you!”

There was, however, one detractor. Someone who has been an ER doctor wrote, “I may be in the minority, but this is my advice. Forget it, then take the ‘high road.’ Everyone in medicine is overstressed and overworked. If you happen to see that ER doc again, treat her with kindness and compassion. She will become your ally. You need all the allies you can get at this point.”

Sarah’s experience is like thousands of others that have happened and continue to happen in hospitals and doctor offices everywhere. In fact, Press Ganey, an organization dedicated to gathering and evaluating patient satisfaction data, reports that the average patient’s score for their hospital experience has fallen by 4% since the beginning of the pandemic.

Healthcare workers are tired and scared. Patients are tired and scared. Conversations are highly charged in so many ways.

As I read through comments on my friend’s social media post, I immediately thought how both Sarah and the doctor were reacting—both feeling unsafe, both unable to successfully share their meaning.

How would this outcome have been different if just one of them had Crucial Conversations skills?

I smiled just a little because I knew the answer. I found joy in knowing that the people who will attend your classes will see these familiar interactions and learn skills for how to better handle them. 

To get started, log in to Trainer Zone and navigate to the Crucial Conversations for Mastering Dialogue page. On April 12—launch day—you will find a new tab on the page labeled Healthcare. There you will find several new healthcare-specific assets for download, along with the standard content you’ll need to facilitate the course. The updated healthcare items are clearly labeled for your convenience.

You will also be able to add the updated healthcare version to your VIP from the VIP page.

Sarah, Mike, the ER doc, patients, and healthcare workers everywhere all have one thing in common: they need dialogue skills in order to meaningfully communicate in the face of disagreement, in crucial moments, when it matters most. Using this powerful course and supporting tools, you can help them do just that.