Pamela Hopkins, PhD
Director, Speech Communication Center
East Carolina Uninversity
Dr. Hopkins (Ph.D.) is the Director of the Speech Communication Center at East Carolina University and serves as an Assistant Professor in the School of Communication as well as an adjunct Assisant Professor in the Brody School of Medicine. Dr. Hopkins works with the ECU Physicians' practice to improve communication skills within clinical teams and between clinical team members and patients. Her role includes acting as a secret shopper, shadowing providers as they interact with team members and with patients, and working behind the glass with PAS Staff members.

Presenting at the Nexus Summit:

During a four year period, ECU Physicians created a framework for improving communication skills between all clinical team members and with the patients and family members that they serve .In collaboration with the Department of Quality and Analytics, we found ways to improve the patient satisfaction scores from surveys completed by clinic patients. We divided our study into three phases: Phase one focused on provider-patient communication. Phase two focused on the Patient Access Service Staff members and patient communication skills. Phase three focused on clinical engagement. Each phase was…