Patient-Clinician Communication Issues in Palliative Care for Patients With Advanced Cancer

Abstract

The delivery of palliative care to patients with advanced cancer and their families, whether done by oncology clinicians or palliative care clinicians, requires patient-centered communication. Excellent communication can introduce patients and families to palliative care in a nonthreatening way, build patient trust, enable symptom control, strengthen coping, and guide decision making. This review covers deficiencies in the current state of communication, patient preferences for communication about palliative care topics, best practices for communication, and the roles of education and system intervention. Communication is a two-way, relational process that is influenced by context, culture, words, and gestures, and it is one of the most important ways that clinicians influence the quality of medical care that patients and their families receive.