Clinical Challenges in Surgical Palliative Care: Goals-of-Care Conversations

Behind The Knife: The Surgery Podcast

Join University of Washington’s surgical palliative care team for another engaging role play episode, where we tackle the challenging goals-of-care conversation. Using the VitalTalk REMAP framework, we explore effective communication strategies, highlight common pitfalls, and simulate two real-world scenarios: an on-call surgeon discussing goals of care with a complex patient facing an emergent surgical issue, and a team member facilitating a family meeting about goals of care in the surgical ICU.
Hosts:
Dr. Katie O’Connell (@katmo15) is an associate professor of surgery at the University of Washington. She is a trauma surgeon, palliative care physician, director of surgical palliative care, and founder of the Advance Care Planning for Surgery clinic at Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA.
Dr. Ali Haruta is an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Washington. She is a trauma and emergency general surgeon and palliative care physician. Ali recently completed fellowships in palliative care at the University of Washington and Trauma and Critical Care fellowship at Parkland.
Dr. Lindsay Dickerson (@lindsdickerson1) is a PGY6 general surgery resident at the University of Washington, with an interest in surgical oncology.
Dr. Virginia Wang is a PGY3 general surgery resident at the University of Washington.
Learning Objectives:
• Identify questions that elicit patients’ goals and values, particularly during emotionally charged conversations.
• Name the three categories of patient values in the values triad.
• Describe the importance of aligning with patients’ and families’ values and demonstrate techniques to achieve alignment.
• Develop a treatment plan that reflects patients’ stated values.
References:
“REMAP.” VitalTalk. Accessed December 2nd. https://www.vitaltalk.org/guides/transitionsgoals-of-care/
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