Headline
Effective conversation guide for providers, designed to fully capture the needs of patients with serious illness.
Context
Incorporating patient-tested language into processes and tools that assess patient needs is crucial for creating emotionally safe environments for patients and the people who love and care for them. This tool can help providers effectively engage patients with serious illness in important conversations about their care, ensuring that patient input is not overlooked and that their needs and preferences are fully addressed.
About this Tool
This tool offers care providers a model for engaging in conversations with patients to assess patients’ goals, understanding of their illness, and preferences around their health and medical treatment. The guide breaks the conversation into five parts: (1) set up; (2) assess; (3) share; (4) explore; and (5) close. Each part includes practical questions that foster a conversational tone, creating an inclusive and accessible environment for patients with serious illness. The “close” section allows providers to customize their conversation based on insights gained earlier in the conversation.
Takeaways
Care providers can use this tool to facilitate emotionally safe and comprehensive conversations with patients who have a serious illness to effectively capturing patients’ understanding of their condition and prognosis, goals, and values.