Session Design Submission Review

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Surgeons regularly face the difficult ethical challenge of supporting patients and families through high-stakes decisions as they consider burdensome treatments, e.g., major surgery and life-supporting treatments, in settings of serious illness and near the end of life. Our novel curriculum, called the Fundamentals of Communication in Surgery (FCS), aims to prepare all future surgeons to navigate these difficult treatment decisions with patients and their families. We are piloting the FCS curriculum at 5 institutions this academic year. For this workshop, we seek to bring a section of this curriculum to the broader audience of surgical education week.

Target audience: practicing surgeons, surgical trainees, and surgical educators. Anyone who interacts with patients will benefit from this curriculum.

Attendees will be able to practice and return to their institution to disseminate techniques of

1). Attending to emotion-Displaying empathy, avoiding the cognitive trap

2). Supporting patients in deliberation: Presenting the context, goals and downsides of surgery

Our training uses principles of adult education, minimizing didactics and focusing on drills and targeted practice with feedback. The FCS curriculum was developed by a team of surgeon educators from multiple institutions with interest in technical surgical skills education, advanced communication, ethics, and palliative care. Like dissection or suturing technique, communication with patients about surgery is a skill requiring performance, feedback, and repetition. This session will use improv techniques, card games, worksheets and role play to improve core communication skills.

90-minute workshop

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By the end of this session, learners will be able to recognize the values underlying patient's expressions of frustration.

By the end of this session, learners will be able to implement at least one novel communication skill in their clinical practice.

By the end of this session, learners will be able to recommend a surgical plan after first prioritizing patient goals for surgery.