scholarly journals A new communication skills training program for palliative care fellow-physicians

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristopher MacKinnon ◽  
Stefanie Gingras ◽  
Sonia Skamene ◽  
Deborah Ummel
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Palliative Care ◽  
Training Program ◽  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Training Model ◽  
Communication Skills Training ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Practice Group

This presentation describes a novel educational program associated with a Palliative Care Post-Graduate Medical Fellowship embedded within a university teaching hospital. The educational objectives of this program will be presented, as will the pedagogical methods and initial trainee responses to this program. Grounded in both an action-reflection model, as well as the discrimination model of clinical supervision (Bernard & Goodyear, 2009), the objective of this new program is to help physicians develop their clinical skills in understanding and negotiating the complex psychosocial issues associated with advanced cancer care. Secondary objectives include developing increased self-awareness in the domains of death, dying, bereavement and supportive counselling. This program was constructed in parallel with the learning objectives of two Canadian accreditation bodies in Palliative Medicine and was drawn on an established Spiritual Care pedagogical method for tertiary health care settings (Lambert, 2013). Training includes two 90 minute bi-monthly meetings, comprising either a verbatim case report or a reflective practice group. In the former, medical fellows presented a case to a peer-group that centered largely on psychological and not medical issues. Fellows receive feedback on their communication skills, as well as on case conceptualization and treatment planning. Trainees also participate in a reflective practice group to provide an additional opportunity to deepen self-awareness, as well as reflect on how their attitudes, values and assumptions affect the role of a palliative care physician. The presentation will also report initial trainee responses to the program based on exit interviews. This training model can also easily be transferred to the training of various health care disciplines associated with palliative care. Considerations for adjustment of the program to other practice settings will be encouraged from attendees. The syllabus for the program will be provided upon request.                                                                                                                       Pedagogical methodsA didactic approach will be used to outline the basic structure of the program. To illustrate the intersections of theory and practice, the workshop will include presentations of several group case vignettes. Participants will be invited to provide feedback on the potential strengths and limitations of this program. Expected outcomesPeople attending this workshop will obtain practical information concerning a new communication skills training program, as well as techniques and strategies they may wish to bring to their particular practice setting. This training model can also easily be transferred to the training of various health care disciplines associated with palliative care.

Conducting family meetings in palliative care: Themes, techniques, and preliminary evaluation of a communication skills module

2009 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer A. Gueguen ◽  
Carma L. Bylund ◽  
Richard F. Brown ◽  
Tomer T. Levin ◽  
David W. Kissane
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Palliative Care ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Communication Skills Training ◽  
Training Module ◽  
Family Meeting ◽  
Family Meetings

ABSTRACTObjective:To develop a communication skills training module for health care professionals about how to conduct a family meeting in palliative care and to evaluate the module in terms of participant self-efficacy and satisfaction.Methods:Forty multispecialty health care professionals from the New York metropolitan area attended a communication skills training module at a Comprehensive Cancer Center about how to conduct a family meeting in oncology. The modular content was based on the Comskil model and current literature in the field.Results:Based on a retrospective pre–post measure, participants reported a significant increase in self-efficacy about their ability to conduct a family meeting. Furthermore, at least 93% of participants expressed their satisfaction with various aspects of the module by agreeing or strongly agreeing with statements on the course evaluation form.Significance of results:Family meetings play a significant role in the palliative care setting, where family support for planning and continuing care is vital to optimize patient care. Although these meetings can be challenging, this communication skills module is effective in increasing the confidence of participants in conducting a family meeting.

Assessment of the efficacy of communication skills training program for oncologists

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 216-222
Author(s):  
Giedrė Bulotienė ◽  
Gabrielė Jagelavičiūtė
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Training Program ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Confidence Level ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Cancer Care ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Communication Skills Training ◽  
Oncology Patients ◽  
Personal Opinion

Background. Effective communication is essential for cancer care therefore a communication skills training program was developed by the Lithuanian Association of Psychosocial Oncology. This study aims to identify the efficacy of the new program designed for Lithuanian specialists. Materials and methods. Self-report questionnaires for health care professionals were designed. Surveys were based on three topics – stress, confidence level, and personal opinion about the training and ability to apply learned communication skills. 88(67.2%) respondents completed the questionnaire. Results. Stress: 38.6% of respondents indicated that they usually experience stress while communicating with oncology patients or their relatives; Confidence level: 61.4% of participants agreed that their level of confidence improved after trainings. 83.0% of participants agreed that the  establishment of a  connection with patients and their relatives improved, but requires further development. The  participants’ personal opinion about specific aspects of the communication skills training was evaluated as well. It was found that women are more likely to think that their skill of empathy had developed, but still needed to be improved, while men believed that their empathy had not changed, or stated that it had developed and needed no further improvement (p = 0.003). Conclusions. The  study found improvements in participants’ confidence (61.4%) and specific skills while communicating with oncology patients (75.0–90.9%). Health care professionals evaluated the program as well and very well (86.4–92.1%). The Lithuanian communication skills training program is appropriate to use to enhance the quality of cancer care.

scholarly journals A Virtual Counseling Application Using Artificial Intelligence for Communication Skills Training in Nursing Education: Development Study (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shefaly Shorey ◽  
Emily Ang ◽  
John Yap ◽  
Esperanza Debby Ng ◽  
Siew Tiang Lau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Nursing Students ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Communication Skills Training ◽  
Open Communication ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Virtual Counseling

BACKGROUND The ability of nursing undergraduates to communicate effectively with health care providers, patients, and their family members is crucial to their nursing professions as these can affect patient outcomes. However, the traditional use of didactic lectures for communication skills training is ineffective, and the use of standardized patients is not time- or cost-effective. Given the abilities of virtual patients (VPs) to simulate interactive and authentic clinical scenarios in secured environments with unlimited training attempts, a virtual counseling application is an ideal platform for nursing students to hone their communication skills before their clinical postings. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to develop and test the use of VPs to better prepare nursing undergraduates for communicating with real-life patients, their family members, and other health care professionals during their clinical postings. METHODS The stages of the creation of VPs included preparation, design, and development, followed by a testing phase before the official implementation. An initial voice chatbot was trained using a natural language processing engine, Google Cloud’s Dialogflow, and was later visualized into a three-dimensional (3D) avatar form using Unity 3D. RESULTS The VPs included four case scenarios that were congruent with the nursing undergraduates’ semesters’ learning objectives: (1) assessing the pain experienced by a pregnant woman, (2) taking the history of a depressed patient, (3) escalating a bleeding episode of a postoperative patient to a physician, and (4) showing empathy to a stressed-out fellow final-year nursing student. Challenges arose in terms of content development, technological limitations, and expectations management, which can be resolved by contingency planning, open communication, constant program updates, refinement, and training. CONCLUSIONS The creation of VPs to assist in nursing students’ communication skills training may provide authentic learning environments that enhance students’ perceived self-efficacy and confidence in effective communication skills. However, given the infancy stage of this project, further refinement and constant enhancements are needed to train the VPs to simulate real-life conversations before the official implementation.

scholarly journals Effectiveness of a communication skills training program for medical students to identify patients communicative clues

2020 ◽  
Vol 103 (11) ◽  
pp. 2384-2387
Author(s):  
Roger Ruiz Moral ◽  
Cristina Andrade-Rosa ◽  
Juan D Molina Martín ◽  
Emilio Cervera Barba ◽  
Luis Pérula de Torres ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Training Program ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Communication Skills Training

The implementation of advanced communication skills training for senior healthcare professionals in Northern Ireland

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Finn ◽  
Emma King ◽  
Susie Wilkinson
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Communication Skills Training ◽  
Complex Information ◽  
Cognitive Behavioural ◽  
Affective Components

This chapter describes the key challenges and rewards of the implementation and delivery of a programme of advanced communication skills training (ACST) for senior healthcare professionals working in cancer and palliative care in Northern Ireland (NI). It enables participants to reflect and critically appraise their own and others communication skills and to demonstrate the skills required to facilitate a structured patient-centred assessment/consultation using specific strategies to handle complex communication scenarios. Participants should also be able to tailor complex information to meet the needs of patients and carers. The course is based on an experiential, learner-centred approach, which is known to enhance effective person-centred communication and includes cognitive, behavioural, and affective components. A 2014 analysis of the programme recommends the two-day as opposed to the three-day model for ACST, as no disadvantages have been identified and this programme is better meeting the needs of the participants.

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