Mastering Communication with Seriously Ill Patients: Balancing Honesty with Empathy and Hope

by Anthony Back, Robert Arnold, James Tulsky (Adapter)

Physicians who care for patients with life-threatening illnesses face daunting communication challenges. Patients and family members can react to difficult news with sadness, distress, anger, or denial. This book defines the specific communication tasks involved in talking with patients with life-threatening illnesses and their families. Topics include delivering bad news, transition to palliative care, discussing goals of advance-care planning and do-not-resuscitate orders, existential and spiritual issues, family conferences, medical futility, and other conflicts at the end of life. Drs. Anthony Back, Robert Arnold, and James Tulsky bring together empirical research as well as their own experience to provide a roadmap through difficult conversations about life-threatening issues. The book offers both a theoretical framework and practical conversational tools that the practicing physician and clinician can use to improve communication skills, increase satisfaction, and protect themselves from burnout.

Genres: Medicine, Medical, Psychology

170 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Stéphanie Lord · Rating 5 out of 5]

Je recommande à tous mes collègues !

[Valentina Chiriac · Rating 5 out of 5]

O carte deosebita care ar fi “un must” pentru orice doctor. Chiar dacă societatea românească nu e chiar pregătită cultural și educațional pentru așa ceva, învățarea comunicării este un pas de căpătâi in progresul spre mai bine.

[Paige Floyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a must-read for anyone in the medical profession, especially doctors, to learn improved communication skills with patients. I read this as I plan on studying Nursing next year and whilst it is aimed at doctors, it also has many helpful communication tips for others in the medical field.

[Galen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Required reading for all health providers. Concise read/resource with plenty of practical knowledge.

[John Sparzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be required reading for all clinicians in training! Simple skills to make us better doctors, nurses and other care providers. Excellent!

[Janny G · Rating 5 out of 5]

An easy to read and actionable guide to making communication on any topic, but especially difficult news, more a skill to master than some nebulous talent that is out of reach. It highlights the importance of asking questions with the intention of hearing the answer, of managing conflict in a way that’s not about “winning” but about what’s best for a patient. I found this book tremendously useful on my palliative care rotation and it allowed me to build better relationships with my patients by giving me a toolkit to rely on when emotions got heavy. This should be required reading for anyone in healthcare, but especially physicians who can forget that communication is just as important as medical knowledge.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This probably should be required reading for physicians. It's quick and easy and provides clear examples of common communication scenarios in which physicians often stumble despite the best of intentions. Its overall message is that communication is a skill that can be learned and that poor communication often results from not knowing how to handle emotions - of onesself or of others - or misaligned frames. It points out ways of structuring communication so that it telegraphs intentions, respects the needs of the patient, and avoids sending signals that aren't intended.

The appendices are all the roadmaps for communication that the book presents. It suggests picking specific things to work on, enlisting colleagues, and soliciting specific feedback.

[Betsy Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a helpful tool for any professionals working in healthcare. It provides extremely valuable insights into how to tackle difficult conversations with patients and families, including clear-cut road maps to navigate such conversations as discussing serious news, talking about prognosis, and bringing up the difficult topic of dying. A common theme is recognizing patients emotions, responding appropriately and compassionately, and allowing time for coping. While directed specifically toward physicians, this book is applicable to healthcare employees of any discipline. I would love to reread this every year.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written for physicians, this is a concise, concrete, practical guide that is extremely helpful and clear. Although there were lots of typos and grammatical mistakes for a book that essential costs 32 cents per page.