Communication skills: The patient as co-pilot

Abstract

Daily interactions with patients and caregivers who are living with a brain tumour reveal that self-management practices, whilst being provided routinely in some places, tend to be on an ad hoc basis, reactive and unplanned. Patients do not know what support is available to them, where to seek help or what questions they should be asking. A shift to being empowered begins at the point of diagnosis, with a collaborative and interactive relationship between patients and healthcare professionals, which empowers patients to take on responsibility for their condition with the appropriate clinical support. This chapter explores why shared engagement is a prerequisite for optimised clinical care, what this looks like and how to achieve it so that it becomes the cornerstone of every communication between people living with a brain tumour and their clinical team.