2022 Annual Report

2022 was a year of continued growth and reflection on the planned and unplanned changes of the last few years. Despite the challenges presented to us, we made tremendous advances as a community. VitalTalk and its faculty trained more providers in 2022 than any other year in its existence; we welcomed nearly 200 new faculty to our community, surpassing the 1,000 provider threshold; and we publicly launched a new online, self-paced course: Navigating Serious Conversations (formerly known as VitalTalk Mobile), which enabled us to begin developing a new course for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. 2022 was the year VitalTalk harnessed its potential for virtual teaching, 2023 will be the year it explores where this can take us.

Navigating Serious Conversations

Covid-19 pushed VitalTalk to navigate what was possible in terms of making high-quality training available to healthcare providers while remaining virtual. In 2020, with the generous support from the Stupski Foundation, VitalTalk developed an online, self-paced course: Navigating Serious Conversations (formerly known as VitalTalk Mobile) to help providers learn essential communication skills for serious illness care. In 2021, we piloted the course with institutions in Northern California, and in 2022, we publicly launched the course—VitalTalk’s first online, self-paced product launch since 2015! Through Navigating Serious Conversations, we applied VitalTalk’s evidence-based training methods to the online course delivery format.

partnership highlight for online learning

Since 2019, we have partnered with The University of Pittsburg Medical Center (UPMC) by offering VitalTalk’s Delivering Serious News to nearly 1,000 healthcare providers. UPMC makes Delivering Serious News a required course for all new Advanced Practice Providers hired so that every member of the team has a common foundation of how to talk to a patient during difficult times. We’re thankful for their dedication to building a culture of better communication at their institution, and we look forward to our continued work together in 2023.

VitalTalk’s online, self-paced courses, such as Navigating Serious Conversations and Delivering Serious News, are an effective introduction to high stakes serious illness communication skills and are provided to institutions quickly, efficiently, and at volume. Stay tuned for more stories highlighting institutions implementing scalable training solutions in 2023.

6182

healthcare providers were taught in 2022. This is 10% more learners than in 2021. To date, VitalTalk has taught 30,970 healthcare providers to communicate more effectively and compassionately.

Learners taught by course in 2022

130

Learners taught in our Navigating Serious Conversations courses. In this course, learners watch videos, identify common pitfalls with patients, and learn the skills to avoid them.

543

Learners taught in our Delivering Serious News courses. In this course, learners learn to recognize emotional cues that patients commonly give in discussions about serious news and how to respond.

425

Learners taught in our Mastering Tough Conversations courses. In this course, learners practice role-playing with live simulated patients for deep, experiential learning.

11 providers completed Faculty Development via in-person courses in 2022.

188 providers completed Faculty Development via virtual courses in 2022.

199 providers completed Faculty Development bringing the total number of VitalTalk faculty to 1,105.

*VitalTalk faculty are healthcare providers licensed to teach VitalTalk courses at their home institution.

learners taught by vitaltalk faculty in 2022

VitalTalk faculty teach face-to-face and/or virtual communication courses that utilize VitalTalk’s pedagogy, framework and modules at their home institutions. These courses teach skills for early palliative care discussions and late palliative care discussions using simulated patients.

4866

learners taught by our Faculty in 2022.

By comparison, in 2021 Vitalk faculty taught 4,395 learners in 432 courses.

total live courses taught in 2022

VitalTalk offers multiple evidence-based skills training courses for individual healthcare providers and health systems alike. Through online courses, live instruction, or train-the-trainer courses, our flexible and adaptable approach works with a variety of healthcare provider sub-specialties and institution types, with customized entry points to fit a multitude of needs. In 2022, VitalTalk taught 551 courses to 6,182 healthcare providers. See the list below to see how many of each course took place in 2022.

26 Mastering Tough Conversations Courses

24 Train the Trainer Courses

501 Courses Taught by VitalTalk Faculty (294 virtual courses | 197 in-person courses | 10 other)

institutions by learner taught in 2022

VitalTalk faculty work at 304 healthcare institutions around the globe. These faculty teach live communication courses to healthcare providers at their home institutions. Listed below are the top 10 institutions by learners taught in live courses:

274 learners | Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

265 learners | University of Michigan

245 learners | Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

244 learners | Northwestern University

228 learners | Mount Sinai Health System

210 learners | Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

204 learners | University of Pittsburgh – Medical Center

199 learners | University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

193 learners | University of Washington

155 learners | Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

geographic reach

United States

Canada

Europe

Australia

Hong Kong

New Zealand

Japan

Mexico

financial overview

2022 was a year of growth for VitalTalk. Coming into the year with fully developed virtual programming allowed us to hold more courses than ever before, as well as to launch new online offerings. We are very happy with the success of our new on-demand course. This format makes serious illness communication training available to health care providers who may not have the time and resources for a longer in-person virtual course. The ability to reach a broad community of practitioners is critical to our Mission, and courses like this represent meaningful progress in expanding access to VitalTalk training.

Development of our new products was made possible by support from the University of Washington and the John A. Hartford Foundation. Their consistent contributions over the years have funded some of our most important and innovative work and allow us to remain on the forefront of serious illness communication training. We are so grateful to the many supporters and community members who continue to drive our mission forward.