UNICEF and Iashvili Children’s Hospital join forces to strengthen medical staff on health-related interpersonal communication

Tbilisi, Georgia. 13 December 2022. UNICEF and Iashvili Children's Hospital signed a Memorandum of Cooperation aimed at spreading knowledge regarding vaccination, its effectiveness and safety by improving the skills of the clinic’s personnel in interpersonal communication, including those related to vaccination.

UNICEF will support the clinic by organizing trainings for more than 300 medical workers of the hospital to improve their interpersonal communication skills, providing the personnel with not only factual knowledge about SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, but also techniques of communication that can be used to further spread of evidence-based information about the effectiveness, safety and importance of vaccination.

“Information asymmetry between a health practitioner and a patient/caregiver, can become a barrier to accessing quality preventive and curative services. As a result of time constraints and limited communication capacities, often health practitioners cannot address the immunization-related concerns, fears and expectations of patients and fail to identify and address vaccine hesitancy ," says Ghassan Khalil, UNICEF Representative in Georgia. “That is why, the training on interpersonal communication can make a substantial difference in strengthening the capacity of health workers in promotion of vaccination and other public health topics among population of Georgia,” he added.

"Communication skills of medical personnel are of great importance for the formation of a high-quality healthcare system. According to international medical practice, good communication with patients is one of the main conditions for their quick recovery. That is why special attention is paid to the cycle of trainings, which serves to strengthen the skills needed for communication between both the medical staff and the patient, as well as between colleagues. The trainings will include lectures, presentations, interactive sessions and discussion about specific medical cases," said Tamar Vakhtangadze, Director of Iashvili Central Children's Hospital.

The trainings led by international and Georgian specialists will be held in March 2023, and a total of 300 medical personnel of Iashvili Children's Hospital, including 100 doctors and 200 nurses, will be trained. This interactive and evidence-based training package will help the health practitioners to identify and address their own biases and misconceptions and to equip them with the essential knowledge, skills, and attitudes they need for positive and meaningful interpersonal communication.

Health providers have always been an important and trusted source of information for parents and caregivers. The way they interact with families and the quality of their communication and engagement may have a positive or negative influence on patients’ decision to immunize.