Navigating Challenging Conversations Through the Cancer Trajectory: A Practical, Evidence-Based Approach for Oncology Clinicians

Navigating Challenging Conversations Through the Cancer Trajectory: A Practical, Evidence-Based Approach for Oncology Clinicians is organized by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and will be held from Sep 21 - 22, 2018 at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Department of Psychiatry, New City, New York, United States of America.

The target audience for this medical event is Behavioral Sciences, Breast Medical Oncology, Breast Surgery, Critical Care Medicine, Gastroenterology, Gastrointestinal Oncology, General Surgery, Genitourinary Oncology, Gynecologic Oncology, Head and Neck Oncology, Hematology & Oncology, Infectious Disease, Leukemia, Lymphoma, Medical Oncology, Neuro-Oncology, Nurse Practitioner, Nursing, Palliative Medicine, Pediatric Oncology, Physician Assistant, Psychiatry, Psychology, Radiation Oncology, Radiology-Interventional, Social Work, Surgical Oncology, Thoracic Medical Oncology, Thoracic Surgery, Urology. This CME Conference has been approved for a maximum of 13.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits.

Course Description:
This two day intensive training course provides an overview of the importance of effective communication in clinical interactions and emphasizes evidence based communication skills and strategies to support clinicians in common challenging communication scenarios, particularly in the oncology setting. The course is being hosted by Memorial Sloan Kettering's Comskil Training Program and Research Laboratory, which is the nation's first formally structured communication initiative at a comprehensive cancer center.

The course is comprised of brief didactic lectures as well as small group experiential role plays. The didactics feature exemplary videos, demonstrating the communication skills and strategies taught in the lecture, and present an overview of a "blueprint" or roadmap for navigating challenging communication scenarios. The small group role play exercises, which include interaction with standardized patients and are run by trained facilitators, provide an opportunity for learners to practice the communication skills and strategies in a variety of clinically sensitive and relevant situations. The role plays are tailored to the trainee's clinical population as well as their individual learning goal. Trainees will receive verbal feedback from peers and facilitators and will have an opportunity to observe their role play through video playback. While the curriculum has been developed for clinicians providing cancer care, it can be readily adapted for professionals in hospice settings and for those treating patients with HIV/AIDs as well as other chronic and life-threatening diseases.

Course Objectives:
• Describe the significance of communication skills training and the rationale for the use of role play in training
• Learn to identify empathic opportunities in clinical encounters and understand the principles of an empathic response
• Practice and implement foundational communication skills and process tasks necessary and relevant for discussions with patients and families, on the following topics: 1. Discussing prognosis, 2. Discussing Death, Dying, and End of Life Goals of Care, 3. Engaging patients and family members in shared decision making for treatment options (including palliative care), 4. Communicating with non-English speaking patients via interpreters.