Palliative care is now a cemented service offered by health care services globally, and in the United Kingdom the hospice care sector provides support to 200,000 people each year. The care given to the terminally ill, as well as their family and friends is vital in supporting individuals through what is, for most, the most challenging time of their lives. This care ranges from clinical medical practice to spiritual support, and aims to put individuals in as much comfort as is possible. People often find it difficult to discuss death and the topic is still widely considered to be taboo. This is in direct conflict with the principles of palliative care, which encourages active and clear communication from all those involved in the process.

To convey the importance of communication in effective palliative care, and encourage an open dialogue on the subject of death and dying, we have collated a reading list on these topics below.

“Communicating with children when a parent is dying” by Cynthia W. Moore and Paula K. Rauch from the Oxford Textbook Communication in Oncology and Palliative Care (2017)

This chapter provides suggestions for clinicians on supporting parents’ open communication with their children, drawing on the authors’ extensive clinical experience of providing parent guidance to patients.

“Discontinuation of Life-Sustaining Therapies” by Kathy Plakovic from the Clinical Pocket Guide to Advance Practice Palliative Nursing (2017)

The authors outline how withholding and/or withdrawing life sustaining medicines are processes that fundamentally rest on the shared decision-making of carer, patient, and family.

“Defining a ‘good’ death” by Karen E. Steinhauser and James A. Tulsk from the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine 5th Edition (2015)

This chapter explores the reappearance within the last 40 years of the definition of a ‘good death’ in medical contexts, and what the clinical implications of using the terminology ‘good death’ may be for practitioners and patients alike.

“Truth telling and consent” by Linda L. Emanuel and Rebecca Johnson from the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine 5th Edition (2015)

This chapter focuses on the role of truth-telling in therapeutic relationships and the ways in which effective communication can maintain hopes and deliver information sufficient for informed consent at the same time in palliative care.

“Cicely Saunders and her early associates: A kaleidoscope of effects” by David Clark from To Comfort Always: A History of Palliative Medicine Since the Nineteenth Century (2016)

David Clark looks at the specific contributions made by Dr Cicely Saunders and her colleagues to modern palliative care.

“Talking with patients” by Catherine Proot and Michael Yorke from Life to be Lived: Challenges and Choices for Patients and Carers in Life-threatening Illnesses (2014)

The authors discuss how talking with patients stands at the heart of the patient-carer relationship. This communication involves providing information, but also listening, as patients must feel that their concerns and feelings are understood.

“Talking and Working with Dying Patient: True Grief and Loss” by Lisa Humphrey from The Oxford  Handbook of Ethics at the End of Life (2016)

A palliative care and hospice physician reflects on the lessons learnt about grief and dying over the course of her training and career.

“Think adult—think child! Why should staff caring for dying adults ask what the death means for children in the family?” from the British Medical Bulletin

This article discusses the lack of awareness on the effect death has on children and how carers looking after ill parents should begin to consider the short and long term effects on children and offer appropriate support as part of their duty of care.

Featured image credit: Gress, park bench by Olesya Grichina. CC0 Public Domain via Unsplash.