Advanced Communication Skills in End-of-Life Care

Rowans Hospice Advanced Communication Skills in End-of-Life Care is a two-day face-to-face experiential CPD course for clinicians who regularly undertake complex and emotionally demanding conversations with patients and families affected by serious illness, deterioration, dying and bereavement. The course also includes a half-day online reflective follow-up session.

The course will support doctors, senior nurses and experienced allied health professionals to develop greater confidence and skill in:

• Understanding why communication becomes difficult in emotionally significant situations
• Using advanced listening and communication skills to understand what matters most to patients and families
• Recognising and responding to emotional cues, distress, anger, withdrawal and avoidance
• Giving difficult information clearly and compassionately using evidence-informed approaches
• Responding to difficult questions about prognosis, dying, suffering, treatment decisions and future care
• Understanding psychological distress in context, including anxiety, low mood, grief, threat and existential distress
• Using simple psychologically informed approaches within everyday clinical conversations
• Working with families where there are differing perspectives, expectations or levels of understanding
• Recognising when specialist psychological assessment or support may be appropriate
• Maintaining compassionate presence and appropriate professional boundaries in emotionally intense work
• Using grounding, reflection and clinical supervision to support sustainable practice