Impact: Palliative Care Communication Workshop for Social Workers

Impact: Palliative Care Communication Workshop for Social Workers is organized by UC Davis Health and will be held on Jun 17, 2026 at UC Davis MIND Institute, Sacramento, California, United States of America.

Description:
This interactive workshop is designed to equip social workers with essential skills to effectively discuss prognosis and goals of care with patients, families, and interprofessional colleagues. Through a combination of didactic content, facilitated group discussions, and experiential learning exercises, participants will gain practical tools for navigating critical conversations that arise in the context of serious illness.

Originally developed in response to requests from ICU staff and supported by a University of California grant, the workshop has expanded beyond its pilot phase and is now available to interdisciplinary team members across all care settings. The program emphasizes interprofessional collaboration and the integration of palliative care principles into everyday practice. Participants will explore the vital roles of various disciplines in palliative care, learn strategies for conducting effective goals-of-care discussions, and discover resources to support patients and families in both inpatient and outpatient environments.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the different members of the healthcare team and their role in palliative care.
• Describe two challenges in ensuring that prognosis and GOC are discussed.
• Describe at least one ethical and/or professional responsibility of healthcare providers to families.
• Describe at least one way how health care providers can facilitate communication about prognosis and goals of care among families and providers.
• Discuss at least one way how unintended or implicit bias can contribute to communicating with patients, families, and physicians about prognosis and goals of care.
• Identify three different care teams available within the organization (inpatient and/or outpatient) that can be utilized as a resource.
• Discuss how learning exercises provide real world application of learner directed acquisition of skills for critical conversations.
• Identify and describe the three key types of conversations that occur in palliative and end-of-life care, including their purpose and impact on patient-centered decision-making.
• Describe a roadmap for eliciting family understanding of prognosis and goals of care.
• Detail at least two core communication skills used to accomplish this a goals of care discussion.
• Demonstrate use of the road map and at least two skills to communicate with a family member about prognosis and goals of care.
• Describe a roadmap for collaborative patient care.
• Detail at least two skills that encourage collaborative negotiation.
• Demonstrate use at least two skills to encourage collaborative negotiation and a physician’s attendance at family meeting.
• Describe the recommended structure of a family meeting.
• Detail at least two communication skills for providing emotional support and ensuring that family informational needs are addressed.
• Demonstrate at least two communication skills to help ensure that family informational and emotional needs are addressed in a multidisciplinary family meeting.
• Examine hidden costs of caring for the palliative care population.
• Reflect on at least one personal experience with palliative care.
• Describe at least two protective practices to address and prevent burnout and compassion fatigue.
• Discuss at least one communication skill that the participant will apply to their professional practice.