Teaching Empathic Communication to Pediatric Interns: Immediate and 3-Month Impact.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Evaluate pediatric intern self-reported preparedness to Deliver Serious News, Express Empathy, and Medical Error Disclosure after a 1-day simulation based-empathic communication training. Additionally, we sought to evaluate self-reported use of communication skills and describe the clinical scenarios in which the skills were used. METHODS: Pediatric interns completed the survey immediately and 3 months after participating in the communication course. RESULTS: Self-reported preparedness to Deliver Serious News, Express Empathy, and Medical Error Disclosure all significantly improved. At 3 months, 73.9% of respondents reported using the skills at least weekly and 62% described the clinical scenarios in which they used skills. These descriptions show an ability to use the skills appropriately, and in some cases apply the skills in advanced, more difficult scenarios. CONCLUSION: A 1 day simulation-based reflective teaching course for pediatric interns is an effective way to teach empathic communication skills. They feel more prepared to deliver serious news, respond with empathy and disclose a medical error. In addition, the interns value the training as a part of their education and report using the skills in appropriate scenarios at 3 months.