Working with the Guide

SpeakSooner^®: A Patient’s Guide (Guide) to Difficult Conversations is designed to help identify questions and concerns in preparing patients and loved ones to open channels of communication with their healthcare team.

Clinicians often find themselves treating patients facing serious illnesses who don’t know what questions to ask. The Guide can help prompt patients to actively engage in making decisions about care that align with their needs, values and preferences. The workshop offers an introduction to the use of the Guide with an emphasis on addressing barriers and solutions to effective communication.

To learn more about this workshop please contact us here.

Working with the Guide

Working with the Guide workshops offer an opportunity to work directly with Guide chapters. During the workshop participants will view videos of patients recounting their own experience of illness, engage in writing exercises and interactive discussions while receiving coaching from workshop leaders. The workshop can be tailored to meet the specific needs of participants.

The Guide was developed to help patients facing serious illness and their loved ones identify and communicate questions and concerns to healthcare providers, leading to a better understanding of treatment options and goals of care. As Dr. Allan Eisemann, medical director of Rutland Regional Cancer Center and Palliative Care notes, “Physicians, nurses and social workers are more fully engaged by listening to and reading patient comments. The Guide opens doors to better communication.”

To learn more about this workshop please contact us here.