title: AMEN in challenging conversations: bridging the gaps between faith, hope, and medicine.
abstract: All health care practitioners face patients and families in desperate situations who say, "We are hoping for a miracle." Few providers have any formal training in responding to this common, difficult, and challenging situation. We want to do our best to preserve hope, dignity, and faith while presenting the medical issues in a nonconfrontational and helpful way. We present the acronym AMEN (affirm, meet, educate, no matter what) as one useful tool to negotiate these ongoing conversations.
authors.affiliation: The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD.
authors.forename: Rhonda S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.affiliation: The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.affiliation: The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD.
authors.forename: Joann N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Bodurtha
authors.affiliation: The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD tsmit136@jhmi.edu.
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D006801:Humans; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D012068:Religion and Medicine