Effective Care - Effective Communication: Living and Dying with COPD is an educational package from IMPRESS consisting of a DVD and a CD of PowerPoint slides. The DVD comprises short film clips of patients' and carers' stories and views on diagnosis and end of life dialogue and an 'expert panel' discussion on ways to approach these issues with tips on how to improve the consultation. The CD also draws out the key learning points, references and links to the latest evidence and publications and consultation on the COPD Clinical Strategy. The film clips alone tell a powerful story, but the material will probably best be used by a facilitator as part of an educational package on communication skills, or COPD care.

This educational package is now available. To order your copy, please send an email to with Living and Dying in the subject header.

May 2010: we are proud to announce that  "The development of an educational package for clinicians involved in end of life care issues in COPD" has been accepted for oral presentation at the European Respiratory Society meeting in Barcelona in September 2010.

Here is a short clip from the programme.

During its development, IMPRESS became increasingly aware of the complexities involved in ensuring it reaches the relevant professionals and can be accessed in the most useful way to inform and change professional practice. The learning is complex and nuanced and is likely to require multiple roles of clinician and educator skilled in COPD, communications skills and end of life care. There are currently few clinicians who would fulfil all these roles and so IMPRESS believes a local communication skills course would often need at least two skilled facilitators.

So IMPRESS is running two sessions training clinicians in how to deliver and use the package.  The sessions will work with a local network led by NHS Bristol across three PCTs (North Somerset, South Gloucestershire and Bristol) and also a national training event working with a multidisciplinary group of respiratory clinicians from across the UK.  The first sessions will be run in December 2009 and a national event in February 2010.  We also want to learn how best to help roll out this as best practice across the country, beyond the BTS and PCRS UK.  This event in February aims to start that work and inform the future roll out.

The course will be run at Cranage Hall near Manchester http://www.cranagehallmanchester.co.uk on February 4th and 5th.  The course will be free to attendees but we cannot provide backfill or expenses.  The course will be led by Jane Scullion, Respiratory Nurse Consultant and Steve Holmes, GP, and faculty from IMPRESS.  We are inviting up to 40 people from across the country to include a range of clinicians working with respiratory disease or palliative care and communication skills practitioners.       
 
We have places available.  If you would like to attend please contact the Project Manager Karin Smyth at [email protected] or on 0777 6228063

Addendum
Since production we have become aware of an error on Powerpoint Presentation COPD The Basics Slide 18 where an arrow has been transposed.

The FEV1/FVC ratio is stated as being >0.7. It should be FEV1/FVC <0.7

IMPRESS apologises for this error which has been altered in future editions.