What Should Happen In Your Consultation Group?

Now that you know that you need to engage in clinical consultation on a regular basis and you know how to put your own peer consultation group together, do you know what is supposed to happen during your meeting with your consultation group? You actually have lots of options but my point is that you need to plan ahead of time how you want your meetings to proceed.  Otherwise, it can end up looking more like a clinical coffee klatch than clinical consultation.

Start with the end in mind. Consider what you want to accomplish at your meetings.  Do you want feedback from your peers?  Do you want to learn about a  particular theory or methodology?  Do you want to formally staff cases?  Are you looking for resources for a particular client?  All of these are possible but you’ll need to structure your meetings accordingly.

It’s about you and your performance. Clinical consultation is an opportunity for you to seek and receive feedback about your performance from other professionals that you respect.  Give some thought to how you (and the others in your group) want to receive that feedback.  Is the culture of your consultation group such that unsolicited feedback is acceptable?  Do you need to be invited to provide difficult feedback before you actually do so?  Some might say that by virtue of simply being in a consultation group, that all feedback is welcome.  However, unless stated up front (and again as new professionals join you), you will need to state it if that is the case.  This is especially important for those who are not familiar with the use of consultation groups.

Present clinical cases professionally. If you are going to focus on formally staffing cases (and even if you are not), you may find it helpful to agree upon a structure for presenting your cases to your group.  There is no one “right” way but agreeing ahead of time will make sure everyone is covering the basics.

Share the time. One of the decisions to be made is how will you share the time you have allotted for your consultation group. Does everyone get a chance to share?  Or, are a select few participants assigned to present cases?  You don’t want to simply “wing it” only to discover that no one or everyone wants to talk.

Decide on the structure of your meetings. Do you want to allow time for a “check in?”  Do you want to jump right in to clinical discussion?  Do you want time to to share resources and events?  By deciding and agreeing on this ahead of time, you will avoid your meeting turning into a social hour.

These are some of the considerations we took into account while creating our consultation group.    Can you think of other things that might be helpful?