Communication skills and raising awareness in clinical practice: an Italian experience.

Following reflection by a member of the healthcare team relating to a particularly difficult situation where communication between the healthcare professional, patient and family was felt to be challenging, there was a general consensus of interest in how we communicate, best practice methods and training opportunities. In order to look at the communication practice, skills and training within the department, it was felt best to identify how the team felt about their own communications skills as a baseline for development of this area of practice.