The Tension Between Us: Understanding and Managing Difficult Patient and Family Interactions in the End-of-Life Setting

Most of us come to the hospice profession with a desire to help, embracing the opportunity to guide and care for others through their end-of-life experience.  As we do this work, we can be both beautifully moved and heavily burdened by our interactions with patients and families, who bring their own life experiences, patterns of behavior and coping.  Especially challenging are those encounters around noncompliance, plan of care disagreements, and demanding behaviors. Understanding these behaviors, and our responses, can help us to meaningfully plan for effective interventions with attention to both ourselves and those we serve.

Presented by: Jean O'Leary-Pyles, BASW, MSW, LISW-S Community Grief Counselor-OhioHealth Hospice OhioHealth At Home Jean.OLearyPyles@ohiohealth.com