An interdisciplinary workshop to improve palliative care: advanced heart failure--clinical guidelines and healing words.
OBJECTIVE
Effective communication is recognized as an essential process to providing quality care, including palliative and end-of-life care. Discussion of prognosis and support needs of patients with heart failure is particularly challenging given the nature of the condition and care across several settings. The objective was to design, implement, and evaluate an interdisciplinary workshop aimed at improving attitudes and skills related to communication with patients and family, health team communication and documentation, and assessment of physical and emotional symptoms.


METHODS
A pretest, delayed posttest evaluation design was used to evaluate two 4-h workshops offered to nurses, social workers, and other nonphysician clinicians.


RESULTS
Although baseline reports of skills were high for the participants, significant improvement was noted for objectives emphasized in the workshop.


CONCLUSIONS
This project demonstrated the feasibility of designing, marketing a brief workshop, and positively impacting communication and documentation skills.
Zapka
Jane G
JG
Department of Biostatistics, Bioinformatics and Epidemiology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425, USA. zapka@musc.edu
Hennessy
Winnie
W
Lin
Yan
Y
Johnson
Lisa
L
Kennedy
Diane
D
Goodlin
Sarah J
SJ
D003479:Curriculum; D004496:Education, Continuing; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D010166:Palliative Care; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D015397:Program Evaluation; D013022:South Carolina