[February 21, 2013]

The Conversation Project Brings End-of-Life Conversations to Care Providers

The Conversation Project, a public engagement campaign dedicated to helping families discuss their wishes regarding end-of-life care, today released How to Talk to Your Doctor. Developed as a companion to the original Conversation Starter Kit created to initiate these difficult conversations with families and loved ones at home, How to Talk to Your Doctor offers a framework for the next logical step in having end-of-life conversations - in this case, with health care professionals.

"How to Talk to Your Doctor addresses a critical need from both the patient and physician sides of the health care community," said Jessica McCannon, M.D., Pulmonary and Critical Care Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital. "As health care providers, it is our responsibility to recommend the best course of action for each patient based on our expertise and the patient's specific wishes. In the case of end-of-life care, many times these wishes are not expressed or sharedwith physicians, leaving families in positions of distress and confusion. Time and time again, when end-of-life wishes are expressed, we have the privilege of offering our medical advice with the added benefit of knowing what the patient wants all the way through to the end."

"With How to Talk to Your Doctor, we're moving the conversation from the kitchen table to the primary care practice - a next step in ensuring the end-of-life wishes for all Americans are articulated and understood," said Ellen Goodman, Pulitzer Prize-winner and co-founder of The Conversation Project. "Doctors, nurses and medical professionals (in addition to family members and loved ones) need to know the guiding principles of an individual's end-of-life wishes in order to provide proper care."

In addition to the release of the How to Talk to Your Doctor, The Conversation Project is pleased to announce the availability of the Spanish translation of the Conversation Starter Kit on The Conversation Project website.

About The Conversation Project
The Conversation Project, co-founded by Pulitzer Prize-winner Ellen Goodman and launched in collaboration with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), is a public engagement campaign with a goal that is both simple and transformative: to have every person's end-of-life wishes expressed and respected. Too many people die in a manner they would not choose, so The Conversation Project offers people the tools, guidance and resources they need to begin talking with their loved ones, around the kitchen table, about their wishes and preferences. Have you had the conversation Learn more at: www.theconversationproject.org.

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