Program to Enhance Relational & Communication Skills (PERCS)

Difficult conversation simulation

PERCS was developed at Children's with funding from the Argosy Foundation and ongoing support from the Children's Hospital Center for the Critically Ill Child.

What we do

The program is delivered as a day-long workshop at Children's. The workshop is structured around several case scenarios, with actors portraying the patient or family members in situations that require the communication of bad news.

Using an interdisciplinary format, physicians, nurses and other clinicians meet individually or together with the simulated patient or family members in a small consultation setting. The faculty and other participants observe the discussion in a nearby conference room over a closed-circuit video feed.

Following the discussion, everyone comes together for a facilitated debriefing that encourages experiential learning and personal insight. To complete the curriculum, faculty members give short lecture presentations on communication skills and the group watches and discusses two or three short videotapes where patients and family members reflect on their experiences with clinicians around difficult conversations.

Program availability

The program is offered every one to two months, with a core mission of providing training to senior pediatric residents, fellows in critical care and emergency medicine, and nurses and other clinicians based in the Children's ICU.

We also welcome the participation of others depending on space availability.