531 - Would it be okay if we talked? A Pediatric Resident Curriculum on Giving Serious News
Monday, May 1, 2023
9:30 AM – 11:30 AM ET
Poster Number: 531 Publication Number: 531.424
Kyle Langford, The Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, Nashville, TN, United States; Lauren S. Chan, Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, Nashville, TN, United States; Meagan Briley, Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, Nashville, TN, United States; Michaela Ibach, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, United States; Tracy Hills, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Brentwood, TN, United States
Resident Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Background: Resident physicians are often the bearers of serious news for patients and their families despite many trainees feeling inadequately equipped to lead these emotionally charged conversations. With the implementation of stringent visitor restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, these discussions often took on the added challenge of occurring via phone call or videoconference. Despite the frequency of these interactions, a formal curriculum teaching evidence-based communication skills in delivering serious news is not standardized in graduate medical training. Objective: With the goal of improving resident physicians' confidence, a virtual case-based workshop was designed to equip trainees with evidence-based tools to use when delivering serious news to patients and their families. Design/Methods: Our three hour “Giving Serious News” workshop consisted of a didactic session followed by simulated case scenarios with standardized patients. This virtual workshop was integrated into the core pediatric residency curriculum such that every resident participated as a part of their required rotations. The didactic portion of the curriculum introduced residents to fundamental communication skills, statements for expressing empathy and a structured framework by which to give serious news. At the conclusion of the didactic lesson, residents completed two standardized patient encounters which were designed to reflect scenarios commonly encountered by pediatrics residents. In each session, residents took turns giving serious news to a patient’s family using the strategies they had previously learned. At the conclusion of every scenario, a facilitator who was present during the encounters led a debrief session with and offered feedback to the residents. Residents completed pre- and post-surveys that evaluated satisfaction with the workshop and assessed self-confidence levels in various domains of delivering serious news including how to initiate and close these conversations, respond to emotion, and provide appropriate in-the-moment information to families. Results: All participants (n=20) expressed satisfaction with the workshop, stating that the didactic was clear and informative, the scenarios were applicable to real-life, and they would apply the information that they learned. There was a statistically significant improvement in resident (N=37) confidence across all 13 surveyed domains of communicating serious news.
Conclusion(s): Standardized education in communicating serious news is beneficial for pediatrics residents and can be completed successfully utilizing a virtual platform.
