Medical School Hotline: Developing communication skills for leading family meetings

Michiko Inaba1, Christina Bell, Bruce Tamura

  • 1The John A. Hartford Center of Excellence in Geriatrics, Department of Geriatric Medicine, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai'i, USA.

Hawaii Medical Journal
|December 14, 2011
PubMed

Good clinician-family communication is essential for the provision of high-quality patient care. Families rate the communication skills of clinicians as critical clinical skills. However, there has been no structured training of fellow communication skills while leading family meetings in the University of Hawai'i Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Program. Effective training to develop communication skills with families will better prepare Geriatric Medicine fellows for this important task, and ultimately improve the quality of care they provide to these patients and patients' families.

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