OVERVIEW

Advanced Communication Skills Training for Oncology Clinicians is organized by Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine - Office of Continuing Medical Education and will be held on Dec 05, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.

Description:
This course will instruct clinicians in the REMAP framework, a five-step talking map for navigating goals of care discussions in oncology. The course begins with a morning session focused on the skills necessary to deliver serious news (often regarding cancer progression) and respond to patient and family emotion. Course faculty will use brief didactic teaching, followed by skills demonstration and group discussion, to highlight key skills. The majority of course time will then be spent in skills practice (role play), during which participants will have the opportunity to practice key skills with simulated patients. The afternoon session then builds on the morning skills, focusing on how to elicit patients’ goals and values, align with those values, and then make goal-concordant medical recommendations. Patient cases used in the course will be tailored to participants in attendance (e.g., thoracic oncology cases for thoracic oncology clinicians), and throughout the course day, participants will be encouraged to ask questions, seek feedback from peers, and brainstorm ways to apply the course skills to their daily practice.

Objectives:

Implement the REMAP framework for effective goals for care conversations in oncology
Demonstrate use of empathic statements to respond to patient emotion
Describe how to make a value-centered medical recommendation
Identify one course day skill to apply immediately in clinical practice