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The emerging needs of effective communication in palliative end-of-life care: a qualitative study

Suantak D Vaiphei

Among all the important domains of assessment in palliative end-of-life care effective communication skills is consider to be the most important, as terminal ill experience is mostly preoccupied with several unwanted feelings of mental disharmony and psycho-emotional sufferings. Apart from the physical pain symptom there are several non-pain symptoms that need to be address for the holistic assessment, which require the clinicians working in the palliative end-of-life care to be an active listener to the patient wishes and to act in the best interest of the patients. Nothing is more important than effective communication in building a quality relationship between the patient and the clinicians and to deliver patient’s quality of life through quality decision making policy. However, looking at the present condition of health care system in a developing country like India, effective communication is an unheard topic that has no place even in the curriculum of the undergraduates medical courses. Thus, failing to implement effective communication in its medical practices resulted in patient’s undergoing unwanted medical treatment, which they would opposed if they were asked about their preferences of care in the clinical setting. The absence of effective communication in clinical practices also made the patients to undergo inappropriate treatment that sometime worsen their physical pain symptoms. Effective communication is the mechanism that breaks many barriers between the patient, clinicians and the family. Especially in the face of breaking bad news effective communication plays an important role without hurting the sentiments of the patient and family.