Brochure

PUBLICATIONS

The Healthcare Communication Review: This semi-annual newsletter, available at no charge, is written for patients and professionals, with separate sections for each. It offers practical advice (e.g. how to negotiate treatment plans); philosophical discussions (e.g. on types of clinician-patient relationships); reviews of current research; stories of healthcare experiences (from perspectives of patients and professionals); book reviews; organizational resources and more.

To see archived articles (all but current issue), click here.
To see topics of current and future issues, click here.
To subscribe to the newsletter, click here.

SPEAKERS BUREAU

We are available to speak, on a variety of subjects, to self-help and other patient groups; to meetings of healthcare professional societies; and to the full range of community organizations. Topics range from personal aspects of communication (for example, why patients should speak up, what makes it easier or harder to do so, and how it affects health outcomes) to societal aspects of communication (for example, how it affects our economy). Talks to groups of healthcare professionals address the many whys and wherefores of talking with patients.

To request a speaker, click here.

FORMAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS

For Patients: These programs, seek to help individuals assume an active role in their healthcare by helping them (1) build skills in information seeking and shared decisionmaking, and (2) develop self confidence in their ability to do both.

For Patients’ Families and Advocates: These programs seek to help family and friends provide the support and advocacy that is so often needed by patients who are seriously ill.

For more information about programs for patients and their families/advocates, click here.

For Physicians and Other Healthcare Professionals: These programs seek to help professional caregivers build skills in communication techniques that have been shown to more fully and efficiently elicit patient concerns and cooperation with treatment plans (with only a minimal increase in time spent with patients). Programs may address these goals as they generally apply to patients or as they apply to patients with specific diseases or circumstances; for instance, patients at the end-of-life or from different cultures.

For more information about inservices and other programs for professionals, click here.