Background In New Zealand, clinicians are not routinely taught to have effective and compassionate conversations with consumers about what matters to them nor are they taught to use that information in partnership with consumers to plan and deliver care that matches that. New Zealand District Health Boards recognised the need to enhance the clinical communication skills of their workforce and tasked the Health Quality & Safety Commission with designing and delivering training to enhance the clinical communication skills of the non-palliative care workforce. As a first step, the Commission has been working with Ariadne Labs to bring the Serious Illness Conversation Guide tool and training to New Zealand. With the differences in the culture of the United States and New Zealand, the Serious Illness Conversation Guide needed to be adapted to the local environment.

Method In August 2018, three codesign workshops were held with 43 consumers and clinicians. At the workshops participants were asked to work together to consider the language and words used in the guide and to suggest alternative wording for the prompts they felt did not feel comfortable to say or hear.

Results A number of key themes emerged from the workshops – the language felt too stiff and formal, the tone was paternalistic, the guide left people feeling talked at and not partnered with, the language needed to be simplified, the doctor should not be “worried”.

The input and suggestions from the workshops were synthesised and an Aotearoa version of the Guide developed.