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| Photo by NEC Corporation: https://flic.kr/p/nJ7P9M |
You will be judged by your consultations. Period.
The best evidence we have for handling emergency department (ED) consultations supports the use of the “5 C’s of consultation,” which was shown to be helpful in a randomized, controlled trial.[1]
1) Contact: start with an introduction between you and the consultant.
2) Communicate: provide a concise story.
3) Core question: have a specific question or request for the consultant (“What do you think is wrong?” is unacceptable).
4) Collaboration: create agreement between you and the consultant about further management by the emergency department and the consulting team.
5) Closing the loop: ensure you and the consultant have the same plan.
Within the core question components, it is also important to know and express to the consultant the goal of the consultation. There is a taxonomy of consultations with differing goals, which can be divided into: [2]
