Page 27 - Palliative Care, Trials and COVID-19 Tribulations: First-hand experience shared by the experts at ground zero

Communication

Building a Connection and Rapport in Full PPE

I think this is a very important part of palliative management as well. Because of the
pandemic, I think many of us have become very used to wearing full PPE in our wards. This
can sometimes seem like a barrier to your connection with the patient, but you can still build
rapport with the patient, if you (i) speak clearly and look directly at the patient through your
face shield; (ii) allow patients to speak and listen to them; (iii) use gestures of body contact
like holding the hand such as kindly touch where appropriate even if you are gloved and
gowned; (iv) adjust your position so that you can approximate to the patient’s eye level and;
(v) learn to use empathic statements to acknowledge emotions like ‘I know you must be
feeling very frightened here by yourself’ or ‘I can see that you are very worried about your
father’s condition.’

Phone/Video Family Conferencing

Now, we know that breaking bad news ideally should be done in person, face-to-face, but
because of the pandemic, we have also had to learn how to use technology like video
conferencing.

Figure 16: Studies shown the effectiveness of using technology to communicate during
palliative care management.

Research has shown that video consultation is effective, accessible, and acceptable to patients
and their families in terms of communication. What we also know is that communicating via
video consultation can enhance the therapeutic presence of healthcare professionals compared
to just a phone call alone. So, for those who actually have access to the internet and if you
have a phone or iPad that you can use to do a video call, that would be great.