50 Essentials in Hospice and Palliative Care: A Practical Resource for Nurses Best Practice for Assessments and Information Sharing Being curious about the dying person and their family, and asking open-ended questions are components of best practice interactions (Davies et al., 2016). These ways of relating help HCPs to connect and learn about dying per- son and family, and their preferences. Just as you would ask a person how they prefer their eggs to be cooked, it is helpful to ask how to best assess, share information, sup- port informed decision making, and include the person and family in care planning, implementation, and evalu- ation. This does not need to occur in the initial interview. The art is in realizing that some of this is intuitive and you see it, sense it, and will be able to know what questions to ask. The important thing is to make sure that people understand and are supported to make decisions. Some examples of questions and conversations that you might adapt to the needs of the person and family follow: Many people are asking you many questions as we strive to get to know you, your needs, and how best to help you. The questions can be overwhelming at times, and answering them can be exhausting. Do you have any suggestions for us on how to best collect the information that we need, and yet not exhaust you in the process? Sometimes people like to answer all the questions themselves, whereas other people like to have family members help with the assessment. What is your preference? You are receiving a lot of information, and you will continue to get more information in the coming weeks and months. Can you tell me how you like to receive information [brochures? Internet? videos?]? As your disease/illness changes/progresses you will be asked to make many decisions. Do you like to make decisions with your family present, or do you like to decide on your own? In some families, there is one person who makes de- cisions. In other families, the family members make decisions together. What are your preferences for making decisions? How can we best support you to make decisions? If there is anything that we can do to support you in making decisions, please let us know. Ethics Touchstone Part 1:C. Promoting and Respecting Informed Decision Making, 1 Nurses provide persons receiving care with the information they need to make informed and autonomous decisions re- lated to their health and well-being. They also work to ensure health information is given to those persons in an open, accurate, understand- able and transparent manner. Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses (CNA, 2017)