Communication Skills Activities in Portugal
Dr. Luzia Travado
Chief of Clinical Psychology Unit
Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Central, EPE
Hospital de S. José
Lisboa, Portugal
Dr. Luzia Travado
Communication skills training for oncologists and cancer physicians in Portugal has started only recently. Up to now, medical doctors' education and training in Portugal did not require learning and training in communication skills. Specifically, doctors working with cancer patients are neither required to practice nor taught specific and useful communication skills to help them deal with the difficult moments throughout the disease process of communicating bad news to patients and families, which left this area much unattended.
Early in our efforts to address this problem, we generated data from the Southern European Psycho-oncology Study (SEPOS) that showed that not only Portuguese cancer physicians but also their colleagues from Italy and Spain reported having received minimal training in these skills during their education. And although they tend to perceive themselves as skilled in communicating with patients, they express less confidence in specific skills such as dealing with denial and managing uncertainty, assessing anxiety and depression, promoting patient-family openness and breaking bad news (Travado et al., Psycho-Oncology, 2005).
Moreover, the study revealed a relationship between communication skills, expectations of communication outcome, psychosocial orientation and burnout. Lower confidence in communication skills (poor communication skills) correlated with higher expectations of a negative outcome following communication with patients, which associated with a lower psychosocial orientation and higher level of burnout. The results suggested training cancer physicians in communication could potentially enhance a psychosocially oriented approach to patients in cancer care but also positively affect doctors professionally in the Southern European countries (ibid.).
In conducting communication skills training in the studies mentioned above, we developed a specific educational and experiential model (12 hours divided into two modules) involving formal teaching (i.e., journal articles, large-group presentations), practice in small groups (i.e., small-group exercises and role-play), and discussion in large groups. 
This training was developed with the aim of improving not only cancer physicians' communication skills but also their ability to detect emotional disturbances in their cancer patients (e.g., depression, anxiety, and adjustment disorders) and refer them to specialists (e.g., psycho-oncologists). The training course was conducted in hospital settings in several southern European countries and was well accepted by most participants who expressed general satisfaction and a positive, subjective perception of the utility of the course for clinical practice (Grassi et al., 2005). The model has proved to be a feasible approach for oncologists, and is easily applicable to various oncology settings (ibidem).
The model has been used by this author in teaching communication skills in Portugal since 2004. The first group of trainees consisted of general surgeons who were responsible for the treatment of breast and other types of cancer patients and was the pilot training group. Because of the positive reactions to the training the Chief of surgery, a colleague in the breast cancer multidisciplinary treatment unit at Hospital S. Jose, Lisbon Central Hospital Centre, today advocates this training for every doctor. He also has gained more confidence in Breaking Bad News to patients in a sensible humanistic way, tailoring the approach to each patient's needs.
In an effort to reach more physicians and provide an easy-to-use learning tool (for self-learning and/or use in workshops), in 2006 together with Prof. Joaquim Reis, we made a two set DVD on Communication and Relationship Skills for Health Professionals - which included basic and advanced skills and an introduction to the breaking bad news protocol (SPIKES) - with the sponsorship of Novartis-Oncology. This DVD was launched in a GIST (society for Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors) Symposium with Professor Walter Baile giving a conference on 'The importance of good communication skills in clinical oncology and its training,' and its first edition was offered to the oncologist community.
The formal SEPOS training was then modified to include a module on how to break bad news (BBN) and some illustrations of the DVD were also used. In 2007, this new format of training for oncologists was rolled out by our group in collaboration with the Portuguese Oncology Society, and was very well received.
In 2009, a pilot program on communication skills training for cancer physicians was launched at a national level. The National Coordinating body for Oncological Diseases (CNDO) in Portugal, high Commissariat for Health, under the Ministry of Health, undertook this program with the aim of improving communication with cancer patients and families in clinical oncological settings. In an effort to improve cancer care and also respond to European and international recommendations that suggest communication skills training is a core skill for medical practice, particularly relevant for oncology doctors, this program also envisioned to provide an opportunity to solve this gap in medical education. The program was launched with a symposium in which professors, Leslie Fallowfield, Luigi Grassi and Walter Baile were invited speakers to talk about the 'Importance of communication skills training in clinical oncology' and was attended by over 100 oncologists and palliative care physicians (view presentations). Subsequently the communication skills interactive program was subsequently begun and included 3 programmed workshops in Lisbon, Oporto and Coimbra throughout the year, targeting oncologists, surgeons, radiotherapists and other physicians working in cancer clinical settings directly with patients and families. We will report on the progress of our efforts in the near future.
References
Grassi L., Travado L., Gil F., Campos R., Lluch P., Baile W:. A communication Intervention For Training Southern European Oncologists To Recognize Psychosocial Morbidity in Cancer Patients. I - Development Of The Model And Preliminary Results On Physicians' Satisfaction.. J Cancer Education, 20(2):79-84 (2005)
Travado L., Grassi L., Gil F., Ventura C., Martins C. and the Southern European Psycho-Oncology Study (SEPOS): Group Physician-Patient Communication Among Southern European Cancer Physicians: The Influence of Psychosocial Orientation and Burnout.. Psycho-Oncology, 14, 661-670 (2005)
