Advanced Communication Skills for Pediatric Patient and Family Support

This 5.5 CE hour, self-paced online course delivers evidence-based strategies that address the most challenging facets of communication in pediatric palliative care, including facilitating decision making, sharing serious news, overcoming the “conspiracy of silence,” communicating with complex families, and negotiating conflict.

Effective communication is a cornerstone of quality palliative care. Communicating effectively with children, teens, and young adults with serious illness, and their families requires specialized approaches attuned to the patient’s developmental age and stage, as well as other factors.

The five modules in this course cover topics central to communicating with young patients and their families, such as eliciting and clarifying goals and values to facilitate decision making, responding to families who  request withholding information from young patients, utilizing attentive listening to develop trust, and managing conflict.

You’ll have a deeper understanding of what is different about communicating with young hospice and palliative care patients and their families vs. adult patients and teaches skills that open communication pathways to ensure young patients and their families are heard and supported.

Enroll in the certificate program for $989.
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What You’ll Learn

• Decision-making tools appropriate for children, teens, and young adults
• Sharing serious news with a seriously ill child, teen, or young adult and their family
• Recognize when families are engaged in a “conspiracy of silence”
• Communicating with complex, challenging, and complicated families
• Managing conflict and utilize creative strategies to encourage open expression

What You’ll Earn

5.5 continuing education (CE) credits provided through California State University San Marcos, accredited and approved by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).

Strategic Partners

The Institute’s Pediatric Palliative Care curriculum was developed by expert clinicians in pediatric palliative care from leading children’s hospitals and hospice programs, with support from:

• Children’s Hospice and Palliative Care Coalition/Coalition for Compassionate Care of California
• Providence TrinityCare Hospice and Trinity KidsCare

Course Author

Joan “Jody” Ramer Chrastek, RN, DNP, FPCN, PACCT (Pediatric Advanced Complex Care Team) coordinator for Fairview Home Care and Hospice, Minneapolis, MN.

Completion and Refunds

In order to complete this course and obtain a certificate, you must view the course in its entirety, correctly answer all case studies and quiz/test questions (as appropriate) and complete the evaluation. You will have 90 days to access this course from the date of purchase. No refunds are given for self-paced courses.