Let's Talk About Dying : Helping Professionals to Communicate with Family Members

Communicating with relatives when a patient is terminally ill can be a difficult task for professionals to contemplate.

However, it is a crucially important part of their role that needs to be undertaken with confidence and competence.

Professionals need to work collaboratively with colleagues from the different disciplines involved with the family.

A key factor here is inter-professional communication and information sharing.

This training resource has two objectives: It helps group members recognise and acknowledge the importance of inter-professional working and communication when working with family members experiencing bereavement.

It helps to facilitate discussions between the group members about communicating with and working with family members when a significant person is at the end of life.

This resource has been developed for use with practitioners from different professions.

It is specifically targeted at nursing and medical staff, social workers, family support workers and school personnel; however, its use can and should be extended to other professionals working with family members.

This resource can be used equally effectively with practitioners who work with the children within the family as well as adult family members.