TKEX is back. The Encounter is coming soon, and the waitlist is open.

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The Encounter, coming soon

The Encounter: online clinical communication for allied health

Explore new conversation strategies from the safety of home. Then put them into play.

Simulated patients respond to what you actually say, so you can try an approach, see what it did and refine it before it counts. Then take what works into your clinical practice.

  • 5simulated encounters
  • 9modules
  • 100%online, at your pace
Join the waitlist Pilot places A$199 (half price). Nothing to pay now.
Brendan Mouatt and Luke Postlethwaite on why we built The Encounter.
  • Explore what the evidence says about the consultation
  • Evidence-based strategies to try, not a script to learn
  • Get feedback, then put it into practice
Dave, 52, storeman. Six weeks of low back pain, and a scan he has his own ideas about.

Meet Dave. He talks back.

Dave is one of the simulated patients in The Encounter. He responds to what you actually say, not to a menu of options, and like most people he does not volunteer everything straight away.

LiveConsultation with Dave04:12
YouAnd what do you think is going on with it?
DaveWell, the scan showed the disc is crumbling. That's what the registrar said. So I figure that's that, really.
  • Responds to what you actually say, in real time, not to a menu of options
  • Holds back what real patients hold back, until you ask in a way that helps
  • Feedback after every encounter, tied to the lines from your own conversation

Explore the science and the strategies, then practise them with someone who responds to what you say.

Nine modules explore strategies for the consultation. Five simulated encounters are where you practise them, each one harder in a new way.

01

You have a conversation

A simulated person with persistent pain, their own beliefs, and worries they will not volunteer. No script. You listen and respond.

02

You rate yourself first

Before you see any feedback. The gap between how you think it went and how it went is part of what you train.

03

Then you get feedback you can check

Each competency, with the lines from your own conversation it was based on, one thing to try instead, and what was happening for the person that you could not see.

What you leave with

You will not leave with a script to memorise. You will leave with strategies that work for you, in your own clinical context, and that shift the things research links with better outcomes for patients.

What you did, with different people

What you actually said

You practise different strategies and get feedback on each one, based on published research linking what clinicians say and do with better behavioural and health outcomes.

Whether it works with different kinds of people

Doing it well once can be a lucky match. The simulated patients respond differently depending on their background and on what has already happened in the conversation, so the same approach will not always land. Working through that is how you learn to adapt to the range of people you see in clinic.

Half price, in return for your feedback

A$199A$399

Includes GST. Full course: nine modules and five simulated encounters.

  • Online and on demand, at your own pace
  • A few feedback questions after each encounter. That is the only extra ask
  • Limited places, open for two weeks once released

Join the waitlist

We will email you when pilot places open. Nothing to pay now.

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Thanks, you are on the waitlist.

We will email you when pilot places open.

Frequently asked questions

Is this a motivational interviewing course?

No. Some of the strategies overlap with motivational interviewing, and we draw on that research where it fits. The course looks at specific strategies that aim to shift the factors linked with better outcomes in clinical practice.

Is it accredited, and does it count towards my CPD?

It is not accredited yet. We are working on it with some governing bodies.

Most bodies still let you claim the time and points for self-directed learning, and we provide the documentation: a dated record of what you did, practised and were assessed on. Check what yours asks for.

How reliable is the scoring?

A language model reads your transcript against the same published anchors a human marker would use, and every score shows the part of the conversation it was based on.

We have not yet compared its scoring with independent clinician ratings. Until we have, treat a score as a structured assessment with the evidence attached, not a validated measure. We will publish the results, including if they are worse than we would like.

What happens first?

A couple of short videos on how the course works, then a baseline consultation, before we have taught you any strategies or shown you the rubric. You have the conversation, and then we have somewhere to start.

Join the waitlist