Enhancing Oncologists' Comfort with Serious Illness Conversations: The Impact of Serious Illness Conversation Guide (SICG) Training.

Providers oftentimes need to have difficult conversations with patients facing a poor prognosis. Research indicates that providers generally feel ill prepared for these conversations and that bad conversations may lead to more anxiety for patients. Communication skills development training programs have shown improvement in providers' skills. Our cancer center embarked on skills development training to help providers improve their skills and comfort in having serious illness conversations. During our phased approach, about 500 physicians and advanced practice providers in the Division of Oncology were trained for over a year. Their level of comfort with serious illness conversations was measured before and after the training by using both quantitative and qualitative methods. We found that mean and median comfort scores increased from pre-training to post-training. The findings suggest that the improved comfort and confidence observed among providers who undergo communications skills training can lead to better provider-patient communication, more patient-centered care, and improved patient satisfaction.

A policy and decision-making framework for South African doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Faced with a pandemic, doctors around the world are forced to make difficult ethical decisions about clinical, economic and politically charged issues in medicine and healthcare, with little time or resources for support. A decision-making framework is suggested to guide policy and clinical practice to support the needs of healthcare workers, help to allocate scarce resources equitably and promote communication among stakeholders, while drawing on South African doctors' knowledge, culture and experience.

A policy and decision-making framework for South African doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic

Faced with a pandemic, doctors around the world are forced to make difficult ethical decisions about clinical, economic and politically charged issues in medicine and healthcare, with little time or resources for support. A decision-making framework is suggested to guide policy and clinical practice to support the needs of healthcare workers, help to allocate scarce resources equitably and promote communication among stakeholders, while drawing on South African doctors' knowledge, culture and experience

Perspectives on the development of professionalism as experienced by radiography students.

INTRODUCTION: This study explores the perspectives of radiography students concerning the concept of professionalism and influence on its development. METHODS: This was a descriptive case study using interpretative phenomenological analysis methodology. Data were gathered from 31 students who participated in a questionnaire consisting of three sections. RESULTS: The results indicate that the students had an innate understanding of what professionalism is and they also described the main attributes, as highlighted by literature. The results further also indicated that there is a clear differentiation between the influence of the formal and hidden curricula. CONCLUSION: This study brings to light the experiences of student radiographers and what they expect would influence their professional development through the course of their training. Since their innate opinions align with international literature there is a need to have this included in formal dialogue.