Course information:

Advanced Communication Skills Training

This one-day course is suitable for multi professional groups of staff with a range of experience that would like to develop their communication skills.

Ideally the group will consist of a mixture of health professionals (up to 16) with two facilitators joined by two professional actors in the afternoon.

Advanced Communication Skills Training

Learning Outcomes

  • Identify strengths and areas for development in relation to communication with patients and their families
  • Accurately name key facilitative skills and when it may be appropriate to use them within a person led interaction
  • Discuss some of the strategies that may be used when dealing with a particular communication issue for example anger, distress and disbelief
  • Discuss the impact that the effective use of communication skills may have on the patient, family and staff in a challenging situation
  • Acknowledge the need for support and state where they might access support when required
The aim of the One Day Communication Skills Course is: To give the participants an opportunity to reflect on their skills and practice in relation to communication with patients and their families at the End of Life using a blended learning approach that will make use of didactic and experiential processes.

Outline content:


The programme for the one-day course focuses on the theory in the morning with a blend of presentation, group work and DVD examples.
Three specific areas are covered in depth.
Breaking Bad News, Anger, Distress and the withdrawn person. In the afternoon the group breaks into two, each with a facilitator and an actor. Rolling role-play is used with the groups simultaneously focusing on:

a) A challenging patient, and then
b) A challenging relative.

All participants will have at least one opportunity to practice their skills within the role play and when they are observing, will be providing support to each other in the form of suggestions regarding how to take the conversation forward, identifying facilitative skills highlighted in the morning session and also any potential blocking or distancing that may impact on the patient/relative. A key component of the day is the consolidation of the learning and how this may be taken back into practice.

This course is suitable for:

  • CPD
  • Workforce Development