Delivering bad news is one of the most daunting tasks faced by physicians. For many, their first experience involves patients they have known only a few hours. Additionally, they are called upon to deliver the news with little planning or training. The aim of the course is to prepare the student to deliver bad news and improve the communication skills and physician-patient relationship. The students will communicate better, feel more confident. Furthermore there will be less medical errors and the likelihood of patients to claim malpractice will be reduced.There is also evidence indicating that, without training, skills in breaking bad news rarely get better with experience.
Course Prerequisites
The student must have knowledge of physiology and medical semiotics
Teaching Methods
Aside from conventional teaching settings (such as lectures, bedside teaching, video-based learning, there will be simulation for “breaking bad news” training. Healthcare simulation is “a technique, not a technology, to replace or amplify real experiences by guided experiences that evoke or reproduce substantial aspects of the real world in a fully interactive way”. Various simulation techniques will be performed depending on how patients are simulated during the scenario: role-play using real humans called “simulated patients”. This is the most suitable technique for training to disclose bad news, as using simulated patients allows an immediate and relevant feedback, a realistic reproduction of the disclosure consultation, while remaining in a safe environment
Assessment Methods
The course does not include a final test but learning will be verified through student participation in interactive lessons and a final questionnaire
Texts
Students will be provided with the latest literature on the topic. Buckman R. How to Break Bad News: A Guide for Health Care Professionals.
Contents
Delivering bad news to patients is a necessary evil in medical practice and usually requires certain techniques as well as sufficient patient contact experience. Doctors should conduct such interviews appropriately and based on the patient's individual condition and cultural context, but there are some common principles that they should follow. The course will teach how to follow the six-step protocol “SPIKES” which offers a standard framework on how to correctly deliver bad news to patients along with other techniques to increase empathy and communication skills
