Guideline 7: Including large families
7 out of 11Specific Strategies
Try to accommodate all family members that attend a consultation
- Try to welcome and accommodate all family members, where possible:
- Find extra chairs for family members if needed, and/or
- Use a larger meeting room if available.
If a large number of family members can be accommodated, ensure the patient remains the focus of the consultation:
- Seat the patient closest to you
- If family members are asking an overwhelming number of questions, sensitively acknowledge that it is difficult to address all their concerns and make an agreement with the patient and family about how the consultation should proceed.
Click for example wording
We have ten minutes left in this consultation, how would you like to use this time?
[To patient]Which questions would you like me to answer?
OVERALL COMPLETION
