As Early as Possible: Training Medical Students to Deliver Bad News

Receiving or delivering bad news is inevitable, especially when taking care of patients. The extent of how they affect us depends on their severity but also on the abilities of the informer. Successfully handling sensitive topics are some of the difficult scenarios that health professionals may encounter. We aimed to foster the development of key abilities in the health students such as communication and empathy using a peer-role-play simulation. Our results show the utility of these dynamics in providing students with a perspective from all involved parties, highlight the importance of multidisciplinary work in healthcare education and practice on how to effectively establish a healthy doctor-patient relationship.