Phrases to consider when communicating a comfort care plan
| Statement goal | Sample statements |
|---|---|
| Building trust | You’re important to us. We want to speak truthfully so that we can work together, even when that truth is hard to talk about. We’d like to talk about some tough news. Who would you like to include to make sure you’re supported? |
| Breaking news | We think that your body is dying, and we want to talk with you and your family about this. We think that we should shift our focus to supporting your comfort. This would look like focusing on your symptoms and helping you feel as good as possible, while also realizing that more testing won’t help us decide on a medical plan anymore. Despite everything we’ve done, it appears your body is dying. |
| Creating plans | We want to create a plan of care that respects you. Based on our discussion, it sounds like you are thinking about the end of your life and dying. We will shift to a focus of allowing your body to go through the natural dying process without trying to slow down or reverse this process. Are there any important considerations before we shift our focus? For example, are there religious rituals we should arrange or family members or friends we should ask to visit? How involved do you want to be in creating the medical plan going forward? We anticipate that over time we will both stop and start medications, depending on how they’re supporting your body. One of your stated goals is eating for pleasure. We want to support this. In setting this goal, we also need to think about your breathing. We know the food has sometimes been going down into your lungs. As you eat, we think it would be reasonable to adjust the nasal cannula as needed, but if you get to the point of needing a mask or breathing tube, we’d recommend against that. |