Case study:

16 October 2007

Communication in advanced illness study day in St Benedict's Hospice

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Key points

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St Benedict’s Hospice in Sunderland Tyne and Wear has set up a study day for all health and social care professionals.

The day aims to develop the communication skills needed to care for patients with advanced illness.

Many study days are multidisciplinary while some have been presented to one discipline. The day is run by two experienced facilitators.

Key principles of communication are reviewed and revised and some time is devoted to the principles of dealing with difficult questions.

Most of the day is spent practising skills with the help of actor patients.

The term role-play is never used when advertising the study day.

Participants will be anxious on arrival so the methods must be explained and demonstrated fully at the beginning of the session.

The study day is run along similar lines to the Department of Health advanced communication skills course (Wilkinson Variant).

Published literature exists to support this approach.

At the end of the study day many participants report an increased awareness of the following:

Listening is more important than talking

The need to give little information

Picking up cues

It is not possible to fix everything

It is always possible to show compassion.

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