Elise Tarbi, PhD, MBE, APRN
Episode Date: Wednesday September 3, 2025
In this compelling episode of Radical Nurse Talk, we’re joined by the thoughtful and inspiring Dr. Elise Tarbi for a conversation that challenges conventional approaches to clinical communication. Dr. Tarbi invites us to look beyond protocols, checklists, and scripted dialogue to consider the relational and existential dimensions of nursing.
What does it truly mean to be present with someone facing serious illness? How can we engage in conversations that not only convey information but also foster connection, meaning, and dignity? Dr. Tarbi encourages us to see high-quality communication not just as a skill, but as an act of care, a form of presence, and a deeply human exchange.
Her passion for this work is grounded in both rigorous research and real-world clinical practice. Dr. Tarbi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nursing at the University of Vermont, Associate Director of the Vermont Conversation Lab, and a member of the University of Vermont Cancer Center. She is a board-certified Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner with advanced expertise in hospice and palliative care.
She earned her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care Research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Her research focuses on improving communication in serious illness care with the goal of building a healthcare system that values and prioritizes person-centered conversations.
In addition to her academic work, Dr. Tarbi continues to practice as a Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner at the University of Vermont Medical Center. Whether at the bedside or in the lab, her mission remains the same: to ensure that patients and families feel truly seen and heard.
This episode isn’t just for those in palliative care. It’s for anyone who believes communication is central to healing and who wants to deepen their practice through presence, empathy, and relational understanding. Dr. Tarbi’s insights will leave you reflecting on your own conversations and inspired to approach them with renewed care and intention.
Resources:
Work mentioned in the podcast:
Tarbi, E. C., Moore, C. M., Wallace, C. L., Beaussant, Y., Broden, E. G., Chammas, D., … & Chochinov, H. M. (2024). Top ten tips palliative care clinicians should know about attending to the existential experience. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 27(10), 1379-1389.
Tarbi, E. C., Broden, E. G., Rosa, W. E., Hayden, A., & Morgan, B. E. (2023). Existential care in daily nursing practice. AJN The American Journal of Nursing, 123(10), 42-48.
Tarbi, E. C., Blanch-Hartigan, D., van Vliet, L. M., Gramling, R., Tulsky, J. A., & Sanders, J. J. (2022). Toward a basic science of communication in serious illness. Patient education and counseling, 105(7), 1963-1969.
Tarbi, E. C., Gramling, R., Bradway, C., & Meghani, S. H. (2021). “If it’s the time, it’s the time”: Existential communication in naturally-occurring palliative care conversations with individuals with advanced cancer, their families, and clinicians. Patient education and counseling, 104(12), 2963-2968.
Complete List of Published Work in Bibliography:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/elise.tarbi.1/bibliography/public/
Vermont Conversation Lab:
https://vermontconversationlab.com/
Work from lab members on connectional silence:
Gramling, C. J., Durieux, B. N., Clarfeld, L. A., Javed, A., Matt, J. E., Manukyan, V., … & Gramling, R. (2022). Epidemiology of Connectional Silence in specialist serious illness conversations. Patient Education and Counseling, 105(7), 2005-2011.
Work from lab members developing measures of feeling heard and understood:
Edelen, M. O., Rodriguez, A., Huang, W., Gramling, R., & Ahluwalia, S. C. (2022). A novel scale to assess palliative care patients’ experience of feeling heard and understood. Journal of pain and symptom management, 63(5), 689-697.
Articles and Books:
The dual framework: Jackson, V. A., Jacobsen, J., Greer, J. A., Pirl, W. F., Temel, J. S., & Back, A. L. (2013). The cultivation of prognostic awareness through the provision of early palliative care in the ambulatory setting: a communication guide. Journal of palliative medicine, 16(8), 894-900.
More on the dual framework (this was recently published): Brown, K. N., Jacobsen, J., & Arnold, R. M. (2025). The Dual Framework: Understanding Psychological Processes in Patients Facing Serious Illness# 508. Journal of Palliative Medicine.
These communication techniques don’t have to take longer: Kennifer, S. L., Alexander, S. C., Pollak, K. I., Jeffreys, A. S., Olsen, M. K., Rodriguez, K. L., … & Tulsky, J. A. (2009). Negative emotions in cancer care: do oncologists’ responses depend on severity and type of emotion?. Patient education and counseling, 76(1), 51-56.
And a simple therapeutic response can increase patient trust: Tulsky, J. A., Arnold, R. M., Alexander, S. C., Olsen, M. K., Jeffreys, A. S., Rodriguez, K. L., … & Pollak, K. I. (2011). Enhancing communication between oncologists and patients with a computer-based training program: a randomized trial. Annals of internal medicine, 155(9), 593-601.
Irvin Yalom on Existentialism: Yalom, I. D. (1980). Existential psychotherapy. New York: Basic Books.
Paul Galchutt’s work on infusing human-elements into electronic medical record progress notes: Galchutt P, Connolly J: Palliative chaplain spiritual assessment progress notes. In Peng-Keller S, Neuhold D (eds): Charting Spiritual Care: The Emerging Role of Chaplaincy Records in Global Health Care. Cham, CH: Springer, 2020, pp. 181–198.
Communication training programs:
Serious Illness Care Program
https://www.ariadnelabs.org/serious-illness-care/serious-illness-care-program/
VitalTalk
End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) (I didn’t mention but do love this program)
https://www.aacnnursing.org/elnec
Avoiding the Uncanny Valley in Serious Illness Communication: Josh Briscoe
https://geripal.org/avoiding-the-uncanny-valley-in-serious-illness-communication-josh-briscoe/
Radical Nurse Talk 
Leave a comment