Overview

There are many situations in therapeutic environments where allied health professionals need to have difficult conversations with families and/or carers. This requires a level of complexity of communication skills beyond those needed in regular therapeutic interactions (e.g. delivery of difficult news about a child’s slow progress with therapy). Often these conversations are managed in a team situation. This simulation aims to equip allied health professionals with skills in how to effectively deliver difficult news to children’s families in a team environment. Clinical specialists and educators may also find that they can adapt this simulation to suit differing clinical contexts (e.g. oncology or intensive care) or different paediatric contexts. It can be individually facilitated or co-facilitated. The simulation can be conducted in a multi-purpose room, a simulation centre or on a ward.

Supporting documents

Overview of the simulation
Simulation Scenario Development
Session Plan
Educational Component
Participant Briefing Notes
Parents Briefing Notes
Interprofessional Teams in Difficult Conversations Self-Assessment
Delivering difficult news to children’s families Presentation