Medical Residents Perceptions of Communication Skills a Workshop on Breaking Bad News

Percepção de Médicos Residentes quanto às Habilidades de Comunicação após uma Oficina de Comunicação de Más Notícias

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Breaking bad news althoughfrequent among healthcare professionals and their patients is still considered a very difficult task. These communication skill main determinants in the physician-patient relationship.

Objective

In view of the need to promote academic spaces that provide opportunities to learn breaking bad news , thisstudy aims to evaluate the medical residentsin relation to their interest in learning communication skills, as well as their skills in breaking bad news, before and after a workshop on the topic.

Methods

All the medical residents in the first year ofnternal edicine of a public general hospital in Belém-Pará, Brazil inwere invited to answer a questionnaire sociodemographic data and questions about their communication skills in clinical practice, as well as the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS), which addressed their interest in learning communication skills. The questionnaire. This research uses both uantitative and qualitative methods. The quantified data were statisticallyanalyzed by the Wilcoxon test (),Chi-Square test G-test adherence (quantitative variables of the questionnaire on communication skills). The qualitative evaluation Content Analysis based on Bardin.

Results

Ten residents attended the workshop. The results show that after taking part in the workshop, the resident’s perceptions of the practice of breaking bad news had improved (in 80% of the participants), as well as their attitudes to learning communication skills ( CSAS = 99.5 and 105, before and after the course, respectively p = 0.0039).

Conclusion

Eighty percent of residents (n = 08) considered their communication skills have improved as a result of the workshop (p = 0.0078). Most of the participantsbecame more aware of the importance of considering the patient’s perspective, and admitted positive changes following the course.

Conclusion

A positive effect on the participants’ perceptions of communication skills and on their interest in learning these skills, were identified after an intervention focused on the context of breaking bad news.

–Breaking bad news; –Communication Skills; –Teaching; –Physician-Patient Relations