Telehealth Group Interactions in the Hospice Setting: Assessing Technical Quality Across Platforms

Objective: This study aims to examine the technical quality of videoconferencing used in hospice to engage caregivers as “virtual” members of interdisciplinary team meetings and their impressions of telehealth. Furthermore, it aims to compare the quality of plain old telephone service (POTS) and Web-based videoconferencing and provide recommendations for assessing video quality for telehealth group interactions. Materials and Methods: Data were obtained from an ongoing randomized clinical trial exploring Web-based videoconferencing and a completed prospective study of POTS-based videoconferencing in hospice. For the assessment of the technical quality, an observation form was used. Exit interviews with caregivers assessed impressions with the use of telehealth. A retrospective analysis of video-recorded team meetings was conducted rating attributes essential for the quality of videoconferencing (e.g., video artifacts, sharpness). Results: In total, 200 hospice team meetings were analyzed, including 114 video-recorded team meetings using Web-based videoconferencing and 86 meetings using POTS videophones. A direct comparison between the two modalities indicates the superiority of Web-based video in image quality but less so in audio quality. Transcripts of 19 caregiver interviews were analyzed. Caregivers found the use of videoconferencing to be a positive experience and a useful and essential tool to communicating with the hospice team. Conclusions: This study highlights the potential of telehealth to improve communication in hospice and the need for new tools that capture the quality of video-mediated communication among multiple stakeholders and strategies to improve the ongoing documentation of telehealth group sessions\u27 technical quality

Medical Students’ Views and Ideas About Palliative Care Communicatio Training

This study focused on the undergraduate medical student to identify views and ideas held toward palliative care communication training, pedagogical approaches to this training, and its perceived effectiveness and use in the medical field. Two focus groups consisting of fourth-year medical students were conducted, and their responses were analyzed using grounded theory categorization. Results indicated that students: (a) prefer to learn nonverbal communication techniques, (b) believe that natural ability and experience outweigh communication curriculum, (c) view the skill of breaking bad news as largely dependent on knowledge and expertise, and (d) prefer curriculum on palliative care and hospice to consist of information (eg, advance directives) rather than communication skills. Implications for these interpretive themes are discussed as well as future research and practice.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

How we involved bereaved family caregivers in palliative care education

As palliative care coursework continues to proliferate within US medical education, novel curriculum approaches have included the use of cancer survivors and family caregivers. We included bereaved family caregivers in structured clinical teaching. Methods: First year students were exposed to a lecture about death and dying and then met with a bereaved caregiver in small groups of 1015 for a presentation about the caregiving experience, bereavement, and question and answer period. Substantial pre-planning was involved to recruit caregivers and arrange for classroom space. Results: Participation evoked caregiver anxiety but was resolved with adequate arrangement of the classroom and student introductions. Conclusions: Future implementation of bereaved caregivers in palliative coursework should include an appropriate follow-up phone call as well as recruiting more caregivers than necessary for the curriculum. © 2011 Informa UK Ltd

Communicating a terminal prognosis in a palliative care setting: Deficiencies in current communication training protocols

The goal of this study was to understand the use and effectiveness of current communication protocols in terminal prognosis disclosures. Data were gathered from an interdisciplinary palliative care consultation service team at a Veterans Hospital in Texas, USA. Medical communication guidelines, a consistent component in United States palliative care education, propose models for delivery of bad news. However, there is little empirical evidence that demonstrates the effectiveness of these guidelines in disclosures of a terminal prognosis. Based on ethnographic observations of terminal prognosis meetings with dying patients, palliative care team meetings, and semi-structured interviews with palliative care team practitioners, this study notes the contradictory conceptualizations of current bad news communication guidelines and highlights that communicating a terminal prognosis also includes (1) adaptive communication based on the patient\u27s acceptability, (2) team based/family communication as opposed to physician-patient dyadic communication, and (3) diffusion of topic through repetition and definition as opposed to singularity of topic. We conclude that environmentally based revision to communication protocol and practice in medical school training is imperative. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Communication as comfort: Multiple voices in palliative care

This exceptional work explores the complexities of communication at one of the most critical stages of the life experience--during advanced, serious illness and at the end of life. Challenging the predominantly biomedical model that informs much communication between seriously ill and/or dying patients and their physicians, caregivers, and families, Sandra L. Ragan, Elaine M. Wittenberg-Lyles, Joy Goldsmith, and Sandra Sanchez-Reilly pose palliative care--medical care designed to comfort rather than to cure patients--as an antidote to the experience of most Americans at the most vulnerable juncture of their lives. With an author team comprised of three health communication scholars and one physician certified in geriatrics and palliative medicine, this volume integrates the medical literature on palliative care with that of health communication researchers who advocate a biopsychosocial approach to health care. Applying communication theories and insights to illuminate problems and to explain their complexities, the authors advocate a patient-centered approach to care that recognizes and seeks to lessen patients\u27 suffering and the many types of pain they may experience (physical, psychological, social, and spiritual) during life-threatening illness

Question asking by family caregivers in hospice interdisciplinary team meetings

Article on question asking by family caregivers in hospice interdisciplinary team meetings

Exploring Interpersonal Communication in Hospice Interdisciplinary Team Meetings

Article on exploring interpersonal communication in hospice interdisciplinary team meetings