Communication Skills for Serious Illness Conversations
What You’ll Learn
Everything we want for our patients—better outcomes, better quality of life, higher patient satisfaction, fewer hospital readmissions, more equitable care—starts with building trusting relationships between patients, their caregivers, and the care team. This requires that clinicians from all specialties and disciplines have effective communication skills.
To provide patient-centered care for people living with serious illness, clinicians must understand their hopes, fears, goals, and preferences. CAPC’s Communication Skills for Serious Illness Conversations unit provides clinicians with techniques to discuss serious news and prognosis; have effective conversations about goals of care and care planning; and facilitate decision-making with patients and the people who matter to them.
CAPC Designation
Take all five courses in this unit to achieve CAPC Designation status in communication. Designation can be added to your performance file or resume to indicate comprehensive training in communication skills.
What You’ll Earn
CAPC members can earn the following free continuing education credits and MOC credits:
- 5.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™
- Case Management: 5.00 CE
- Nursing: 4.30 CNE
- Social Work: 5.00 CE (NASW)
- Social Work: 5.00 CE (NYSED)
Learn more about becoming a CAPC member.
The continuing education values listed on this page apply to the current term of accreditation for the courses in this unit. See individual course pages for more information about the accrediting bodies.
Your organization may already be a CAPC member. Check your status by logging in.
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Course 1 of 5
Learn best practices for having patient-centered conversations about a serious illness diagnosis.
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Course 2 of 5
Learn how to effectively discuss prognosis with patients and their caregivers.
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Course 3 of 5
Learn best practices for building trust, eliciting patient values, and having patient-centered conversations about goals of care.
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Course 4 of 5
Learn to effectively lead meetings that help patients and caregivers become aligned around the patient’s goals.
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Course 5 of 5
Learn techniques to help patients and their caregivers plan for the future, both during the early stages of a serious illness and as a disease progresses.