Commitment of a cancer organization to a program for training in communication skills

An Ontario cancer agency started an initiative to improve and promote effective communications between health care providers and their patients, using a 4.5-hour workshop developed by the Bayer Institute for Health Care Communications. Each of the eight regional cancer centers in Ontario sent two people, one physician and one other health care professional, for training in delivery of the workshop. Subsequently, each center provided workshops for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, physicists, social workers, psychologists, radiotherapists, and secretarial staff. The ongoing workshops are multiprofessional in composition and interactive and participatory in design. Between September 1996 and September 1997, the workshops involved over 400 cancer care professionals. Their success has been attributed to the knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm of the trained pair of facilitators; the interactive and participatory nature of the workshop design; the multiprofessional participation; and the support of the board of directors and senior management and the administration of each cancer center.