title: Practicing End-of-Life Conversations: Physician Communication Training Program in Palliative Care.
abstract: A Physician Communication Training Program (PCTP) utilizing scripts based on actual family conferences with patients, families, and the health care team was developed at one medical center in the Northeast. The program was designed, adapted, and directed by a palliative care social worker. The primary goal of the program is to help residents and attending physicians build better communication skills in establishing goals of care and in end-of-life planning. The scripts focus on improving physicians' basic skills in conducting family meetings, discussing advance directives, prognosis, brain death, and withdrawal of life support. Excerpts from the scripts utilized in the program are included. Feedback from participants has been positive, with all respondents indicating improvement in their capacity to take part in these challenging conversations.
authors.affiliation: a Palliative Care Consulting Service , The Brooklyn Hospital Center , Brooklyn , New York , USA.
authors.forename: Bronwyn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rucker
authors.affiliation: b Independent Educator/Consultant , Boston , Massachusetts , USA.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Browning
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D004750:Enteral Nutrition; D006801:Humans; D065126:Palliative Medicine / Q000193:education*; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D016414:Resuscitation Orders; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000379:methods; D028761:Withholding Treatment
keywords: communication skills; end-of-life conversations; family meetings; improvisation; palliative care; role-play