The role of a palliative care service family conference in the management of the patient with advanced cancer

Abstract

Communication between patient/family and the professional medical team is a priority for a service working with advanced cancer. Family conferences including all those persons involved in the patient's care have been established in a busy palliative care service to facilitate open communication. We report on the questions asked by families during 50 consecutive family conferences, during which the questions were recorded verbatim and categorized. Families want detailed knowledge of the extent of the patient's illness and life expectancy. We make recommendations about how best to conduct these conferences, based on these data and our own experience.