ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the teaching of communication skills, although reference to other aspects of health professionals (HP) training will also be given. Medical and nursing schools have started to include formal teaching on communication skills in their curricula, to emphasise the importance of introducing this subject as early in a career as possible. Patients and carers clearly have a significant role and huge potential to be involved in both the education and examination of health professionals. There is no doubt that palliative care can learn from the experiences of other specialties such as mental health. The concept of interprofessional learning at undergraduate level is still in the early stages of development, and the palliative care setting seems an ideal one to promote this; multiprofessional team working is an essential prerequisite for providing excellent care. The majority of teaching methods used in palliative care training have not been validated and this is another area for potential future development.
