The importance of compassionate communication at end-of-life

There’s nothing like a networking event to get you reenergized about the work you do. Last night I attended a Marquette alumni networking event and I got into a conversation with an alumna who is a hospice nurse and also has a background in communication. In the course of our conversation, she asked me about some of the trends in communication research in health care. After telling her a little bit about the study I am working on at the Medical College of Wisconsin, I said that there is a tremendous amount of compelling research on situations she would be familiar with: communication about breaking bad news and communication about the end-of-life.

Sure enough, Dr. Pauline Chen’s column this week was about communication at the end-of-life and the difficulties it raises. These are difficult but very important conversations. These conversations are especially difficult because they are layered with family members who may not be ready to accept such a diagnosis, the uncertainty the physician has at the length of time a patient may have left, and religious and cultural beliefs about death. Physicians also worry about taking away hope from their patients. But studies have found that patients who are made aware of their condition have a better quality of life in their final days.

I was also excited to tell my fellow alumna about my own research on nurse-patient communication regarding end-of-life care, and was especially pleased to be able to tell her that after three years of revising and editing, my article was accepted for publication in Patient Education and Counseling.

These are important conversation for physicians, nurses, patients and families to have. And as Dr. Chen points out, they should not be one-time conversation, but should be ongoing.