TY - JOUR T1 - Doctors talking to friends and families JF - BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care JO - BMJ Support Palliat Care SP - 410 LP - 411 DO - 10.1136/bmjspcare-2016-001253 VL - 6 IS - 4 AU - Bill Noble Y1 - 2016/12/01 UR - http://spcare.bmj.com/content/6/4/410.abstract N2 - Doctors' communication skills have come a long way. In my first clinical teaching session at medical school, the professor warned us, “When you talk to patients and they tell you what is wrong with them, sometimes they start crying. It's best just to ignore it; I generally do and they generally stop”.That was 1975 and it is different now. Communication skills training feature in all UK medical undergraduate courses and examinations. The GMC mandates it. Young general practitioners (GPs) are soaked in communication skills training and even surgeons are tested to see if they can speak civilly to patients in their college examinations. All medical professionals prove their communication competence in annual appraisals, but there is a problem.All this effort is directed at the interactions between doctors and patients. The most important people in the lives of the patients, the people that love them most, the ones that care for them and will grieve when they are dead, get an entirely … ER -