A Virtual Interprofessional Death Café to Increase Comfort With End-Of-Life Conversations

Abstract

The Death Café model has been adopted in lay and professional communities world-wide to foster agenda-free discussion about death. To address the discomfort discussing death common among healthcare trainees and professionals, the authors coordinated a virtual, interprofessional Death Café within an academic medical community. Students and faculty affiliated with Schools of Nursing, Medicine, and Public Health at a United States academic center were invited by email to participate in a virtual Death Café. Participants were asked to complete an anonymous postevent survey about their level of comfort discussing death. Forty-six of 69 Death Café attendees completed the survey. About 77.8% agreed that this event positively impacted their perspective on end-of-life discussion and 80% reported feeling more comfortable talking about death and dying after the event. These preliminary findings suggest this virtual Death Café model provides a feasible, acceptable platform to increase comfort discussing death among healthcare trainees and professionals.