TeamTalk: Interprofessional Team Development and Communication Skills Training.

Communication training is a hallmark of palliative care education. The purpose of this article is to report on the development, exploratory outcomes, and lessons learned from a pilot project, "TeamTalk," which adapted VitalTalk methodology for interprofessional learners. TeamTalk included a series of interactive workshops led by an interprofessional faculty team at a health sciences university.

When there are no good choices: illuminating the borderland between proportionate palliative sedation and palliative sedation to unconsciousness.

Background: Despite state-of-the-art palliative care, some patients will require proportionate palliative sedation as a last-resort option to relieve intolerable suffering at the end of life. In this practice, progressively increasing amounts of sedation are provided until the target suffering is sufficiently relieved. Uncertainty and debate arise when this practice approaches palliative sedation to unconsciousness (PSU), especially when unconsciousness is specifically intended or when the target symptoms are more existential than physical.