The Hindu : Karnataka News : Communication vital in palliative care: expert

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Karnataka

Communication vital in palliative care: expert

Staff Correspondent

Manipal: S. Nagesh Simha, palliative care expert and president-designate of the Indian Association of Palliative Care, said on Friday that communication skills of doctors and nurses had a vital role in palliative care.

He was speaking after inaugurating a two-day national conference on “Palliative care nursing: a horizon beyond suffering”, organised by the Manipal College of Nursing here.

Dr. Simha said that sometimes nurses had to sort out the mess created by insensitive communication by doctors. Doctors and nurses should discard certain aspects they might have learnt in medical and nursing colleges. Palliative care nurses had to be more effective compared to general nurses. They were more important than doctors in healthcare, especially palliative care, he said.

Vice-Chancellor of Manipal University Rajasekharan P. Warrier said that the university would be starting a postgraduate course in palliative care shortly.

Those working in palliative care units had to be taught how bad news could be communicated to patients and their family members. “Do not let people give up hope,” Dr. Warrier said.

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