Workshop 3
Engaging Families through Compassionate Communication in End of Life Care
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
3:30 - 4:45 pm
Pier 2 & 3
During end-of-life and dementia care, families often experience significant moral and emotional distress due to uncertainty and grief. Unless staff can be compassionate in these situations, opportunities to improve quality of resident care through family engagement and collaboration on long-term care teams may be missed. Staff fight or flight reactions to family distress are more likely to result, leading to conflict – which is often viewed as overwhelming and unwelcome by all parties. This workshop offers a clear path to applying a model of compassionate communication by acknowledging, reassuring, and clarifying the concerns and needs of all of those present, starting with the self and reaching out to the family, resident, and team. A short offering of innovative leading practices will be followed by trigger simulation videos and group and pair activities to safely explore a 7 step model toward family engagement through compassion.
Speaker: Shoshana Helfenbaum