Objective Evaluation of a Simulation Course for Residents in the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Department: Breaking Bad News.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Yuan, Yih Ying Scott, Susan Van Horn, Ngoc Oke, Oluwaseun Okada, Pamela
Editor	Muacevic, Alexander Adler, John R
Copyright Year	2019
Abstract	Introduction Breaking bad news (BBN), especially in the pediatric emergency medicine department, requires significant skill and delicacy due to the acute context of a busy emergency department (ED) and the lack of prior rapport with the patients and families. Pediatric literature on breaking bad news has mostly focused on pediatric oncology and pediatric critical care, with limited literature focused on pediatric emergency medicine. Review of the literature also reveals that most existing studies solely assess the learners' self-ratings of efficacy and comfort, and far fewer studies objectively evaluate learners' actual performance using simulation. Our objectives for this study was to use an objective assessment tool to assess residents' breaking bad news skills, pre- and post-simulation training, specifically in the setting of a pediatric emergency medicine department. Methods 34 residents were evaluated on their performance in breaking bad news via videotaped simulation encounters before and after teaching intervention. The "Modified Breaking Bad News Assessment Scale" (mBAS) was used as the assessment tool. A paired t-test analysis was conducted to examine the mean difference in pre- and post-simulation scores in each of the five mBAS domains. Results Breaking bad news performance score improves one to two weeks post-intervention, and was statistically significant in three of five domains. Conclusion Our study shows that breaking bad news is a teachable skill that can be improved by simulated education in the pediatric emergency medicine department. This study demonstrates the utility of simulation course in improving breaking bad news skills in the pediatric emergency medicine department. Future work in developing focused simulation curriculums is important to improve provider communication skills and patient-physician relationships.
Journal	Cureus
Volume Number	11
DOI	10.7759/cureus.3903
PubMed Central reference number	PMC6424552
Issue Number	1
PubMed reference number	30911458
e-ISSN	21688184
Language	English
Publisher	Cureus
Publisher Date	2019-01-16
Publisher Place	Palo Alto (CA)
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	breaking bad news simulation medical education pediatrics emergency medicine
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Medicine