Communication skills: simulated patient goals of care workshop for acute care clinicians

Appropriate and timely goals of patient care (GoPC) discussions are associated with improved health outcomes near the end-of-life among patients with serious illness, however, acute care clinicians report a lack of training in conducting GoPC conversations.

A half-day GoPC communication workshop for acute care clinicians was delivered and evaluated. Participants were instructed in the use of communication frameworks and practiced skills in clinical scenarios with a simulated patient.

Expert facilitators guided feedback towards learner identified goals during simulated GoPC discussions. Self-reported confidence in communication skills was measured with a pre-post questionnaire, which was repeated 2 months following the workshop.

50 clinicians completed the workshop and questionnaire. A mean improvement in confidence in communication skills of 35% (p<0.001) was identified following participation, which remained elevated at 2 months (p<0.001). All participants responded that they would recommend the workshop to a colleague, and more than two-thirds went on to share their learnings with other clinicians.

The use of a simulated patient, communication frameworks and an expert facilitator were associated with durable improvement in confidence in GoPC communication among acute care clinicians. A half-day workshop was feasible and acceptable to participants.