Continuing the Conversation

You respond with: “Smoking is big issue right now. It’s impacting your health, your family relationships and your stress level. Often when people feel enormous pressure to change, the effect can be paralyzing. Please know that making people quit is never on my agenda. I only raised this topic to see if it was relevant and to see if you would find it helpful for me to share information about various treatment options that could help you reduce or quit. So with this in mind, how do you feel about adding smoking to our list?”

Analise responds: “Actually, that sounds really good to me, and I’d like to know more about the different treatment options. All my quits have been “cold-turkey”. Feel free to add smoking to our list.”

You and Analise have now created a comprehensive topic list and it’s one that contains both her topics as well some topics that you have raised with permission.

You now take a moment to summarize your list one last time before moving to the tasks of prioritizing and agreeing upon a shared focus.

You respond with: “Can we just take a moment to review our topic list so far? I just want to make sure that I’ve captured everything. Here’s what I’ve got: COPD education, family, becoming a grandma, finances, weight loss, stress management, smoking, physical activity, medication, and managing exacerbations. Is there anything else?"

Analise responds: “No, I think you got everything. I’ve got nothing else to add.”

Your next step will be to prioritize and agree upon a shared focus.