Abstract
Background. To assess the effect of teaching breaking bad news. Methods. The session incorporated brainstorming, presentation, discussion, small-group exercises using standardized patients. Course was evaluated through a pre-objective structured clinical examination (OSCE), first post-OSCE (post-OSCE1), second post-OSCE (post-OSCE2) (6th month), and questionnaires. Results. Pre-OSCE, post-OSCE1, post-OSCE2 scores: preparing the environment 5.83 ± 0.23, 7.93 ± 0.19, 9.78 ± 0.07; understanding what patient knows and wants to learn 1.83 ± 0.33, 6.47 ± 0.27, 9.68 ± 0.11; giving information 3.25 ± 0.34, 7.43 ± 0.19, 9.67 ± 0.10; developing empathy 2.50 ± 0.32, 6.92 ± 0.28, 9.87 ± 0.06; closing the interview 2.28 ± 0.28, 6.98 ± 0.25, 9.83 ± 0.07. The differences between OSCEs were significant. In the questionnaire, 54.1% of 146 students perceived more competent. Conclusions. Course seems beneficial.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We acknowledge Janice O. Vantrease for the grammatical review.
Notes
Standardized patients were funded by Ondokuzmayis University Research Fund, project number of 2005-T449.
Preliminary results were presented in the WONCA Europe 2007 Conference, October 17–20, Paris.