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Audiologists and SLPs often face the task of delivering difficult news (e.g., test results, recommendations, or information related to clinical or academic progress or lack thereof) to individuals and families. The SPIKES protocol is an evidence-based tool you can use to provide structure to these types of challenging conversations. The framework allows you to effectively and compassionately communicate hard news, infusing your professional and personal identity into the discussion. This webinar explores using the SPIKES protocol to make a lasting, powerful, positive impact on your patients, clients, students, and families in the hardest of circumstances.

Learning Outcomes      
You will be able to:

• Build rapport with individuals who are enduring difficult circumstances
• Quickly establish trust amid emotionally tense and potentially volatile situations
• Clearly deliver essential information related to challenging topics

Presenter Information

Jennifer Hanners Gutierrez, PhD, CCC-SLP, completed her PhD at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) in 2019. Gutierrez is currently a medical speech-language pathologist at University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas, and serves as a Clinical Assistant Professor for the Department of Otolaryngology, TTUHSC School of Medicine. In 2016, Gutierrez was the keynote speaker for the Nutrition in Palliative Care Symposium in Hong Kong. Gutierrez taught on oral feeding amid critical illness and dysphagia in Lucknow, India (2018-2020). Gutierrez led international training on least risk oral feeding amid life-limiting illness (2019) and conducts associated research, publishing seminal work in 2024. Gutierrez has invented three medical devices; each is focused on improving quality of life in the context of serious health complications.

Disclosures:

• Employee/medical speech-language pathologist at UMC Health System
• Faculty/clinical assistant professor at TTUHSC
• Royalties from Bionix as inventor of SafeStraw
• Executive Director of the nonprofit The Storyteller & the World, Inc
• President of Virtual Rehab, LLC

Assessment Type

Self-assessment—Think about what you learned and report on the Completion Form how you will use your new knowledge.

To earn continuing education credit, you must complete the learning assessment by 11:59 p.m. ET on the end date below.

Program History and CE Information

Live webinar date: December 17, 2025      
End date: December 19, 2030

This course is offered for 0.05 ASHA CEUs (Introductory level, Related area). 
Subject code 7060 Patient/Client Safety and Prevention of Medical Errors