Get With the PROGRAM: A Guide to Compassionate Communication.

Despite growing interest in the importance of compassionate communication and patient experience, many physicians still feel unprepared when faced with delivering bad medical news. To address this need, few methods have been developed to offer physicians a structure for these conversations, with the goal of making the dialogues less traumatic for patients and families and less stressful for physicians. The PROGRAM method promotes compassionate communication to help physicians make a connection with their patients, which is central to improving health care quality. The objective of this article is to provide a systemic approach to structuring difficult dialogues with patients and their families.