Logo image
Teaching the Art of Difficult Family Conversations
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Teaching the Art of Difficult Family Conversations

Rita Dadiz, Michael L. Spear and Erin Denney-Koelsch
Journal of pain and symptom management, v 53(2), pp 157-161
Feb 2017
PMID: 28024994
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2016.12.322View
Published, Version of Record (VoR)Open Access (Publisher-Specific) Open

Abstract

Communication skills communication skills curriculum debriefing family conversations giving bad news simulation
Difficult family conversations are a challenge for even the most seasoned clinicians. Teaching the skills of successful communication between providers, family members, and patients is a vital component of medical education. However, traditional teaching methods using didactics and expert role modeling are often inadequate. The train-the-educator workshop aimed to teach educators how to create and conduct workshops on facilitating difficult family conversations that target their own learners' needs. This three-hour workshop included instruction on scenario writing and on the use of standardized actors as patients and family members. Workshop leaders presented examples of commonly encountered clinical scenarios where difficult information is discussed. The session used experiential teaching techniques. Outcomes were measured by qualitative discussions and a questionnaire to demonstrate communication skills learned from the sessions. The workshop was well received by participants who consisted of educators attending the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies in May 2016. Evaluations revealed that 92% of participants agreed or strongly agreed that the workshop achieved the learning objectives. All participants believed that the workshop increased their knowledge, competency, and skills in teaching and facilitation as an educator, with 86% of participants planning to apply the skills toward curriculum development. The major themes that participants learned centered on facilitation skills as an educator and techniques on how to communicate during challenging family meetings (86% of comments). This train-the-educator workshop addresses a critical need in both palliative care and general medicine by enhancing the educators' skills in designing and implementing a curriculum on communication skills of health care providers using experiential techniques with formative feedback. The authors hope that by outlining the implementation of this three-hour interactive format, future educators will adapt and use this workshop as it works best for their learners.

Metrics

11 Record Views
15 citations in Scopus

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being

InCites Highlights

Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:

Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Clinical Neurology
Health Care Sciences & Services
Logo image