Teaching communication with the dying across cultural boundaries

This article is based upon the author's personal experience, gained as a teacher of palliative care, when he was invited to be part of a small humanitarian aid team of experienced British nurse educators which worked for 2 weeks in the newly opened First Moscow Hospice in October 1997. The team was to act as both teachers and clinicians assisting the Russian health professionals to both understand and use the palliative care approach in a workable context for their culture. A case study is used to illustrate the ethical and practice-based nursing issues that arose which were related to communication difficulties, challenging myths and cultural norms, and the use of 'self' to demonstrate good practice. This article highlights how it is possible to overcome some of these difficulties, and shows what an honest and sensitive approach to communicating with the dying can achieve.