Communication and decision support for children with advanced cancer and their families

Clinician communication related to treatment decision making is a fundamentally important health care intervention and is often reported by parents of seriously ill children to be the most valued of clinician skills. Since different children and families have different communication styles and expectations, and since these may change over the course of the illness experience, one of the early and recurring tasks is to clarify and work with these diverse styles and expectations. Adopting a stance of compassionate desire to know more about patients and families, in addition to imparting information, is vital, and can be facilitated by following a general strategy of "ask, tell, ask." In addition to the exchange of information, communication between clinician and patient and family also involves the signaling and exchange of emotions, in which the pace, verbal inflection, and body language of the conversation are fundamental. Discussions about prognosis and goals of care, while needing to be handled in a gentle manner, should start early in the illness experience and be revised whenever there is a relapse or major complication. Children often want to participate in these conversations to a degree of their own choosing, which they themselves can clarify. Effective and empathetic clinician communication can greatly facilitate decision making and care for children with advanced cancer and their families, and provide a substantial source of comfort.