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Completed

NCT Number: NCT06376188

Improving Breaking Bad News in Pediatrics by Simulated Communication

Breaking bad news, especially a death notice, is an essential part of the medical profes-sional communication. Being inadequately trained in those skills this may result in un-pleasant psychosocial consequences for everyone involved.

This prospective, single-center, randomized controlled trial evaluated the delivery of a death notice to simulation parents out of the perspective of these parents (professional actors), the participants (students) and by video analysis. The simulation patient has prior unexpectedly died during a simulated resuscitation. The intervention group broke the bad news after receiving a short communication

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Key information

Conditions

Communication Behavior Death End of Life Hematologic Diseases Hemic and Lymphatic Diseases Immune System Diseases Immunoproliferative Disorders Leukemia Leukemia, Lymphoid Lymphatic Diseases Lymphoproliferative Disorders Neoplasms Neoplasms by Histologic Type Pathologic Processes Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms Pediatric ALL Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma

Age range

18 year–75 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Medical University of Vienna

Vienna, 1090, Austria

About this study

Conversations about death and dying present discomfort for both healthcare professionals, patients and their families. These conversations, emotionally laden, pose lasting challenges and impact decision-making. Despite extensive medical training, physicians often lack adequate communication skills for such conversations, leading to frustration and distress. Delivering bad news, particularly in pediatrics, requires managing not only medical intricacies but also emotional impact. Communication skills, crucial for such scenarios, are typically developed over time through observation and practice, yet are often inadequately emphasized in medical training. Our study aimed to assess the impact of communication training on medical students delivering death notifications to simulation parents in pediatric simulation scenarios.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Medical students, enrolled at the Medical University of Vienna.
  • Successful completion the mandatory basic life support training "Block 16" in the third year of medical training and
  • Successful completion of the mandatory communication seminar "Ärztliche Gesprächsführung B" also in the third year of medical training.
  • Obtained written informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

  • quality of the obtained video recordings were unsatisfactory and not usable for analysis
  • unmet inclusion criteria

Treatment and study plan

communication training

Other

The intervention group received a communication training session prior to the prebriefing and familiarization of the scenario, including advice on how to improve communication skills as well as how to create an optimal setting for difficult medical conversations. This communication training session has been created on the basis of an in-depth literature research.(Brock et al., 2019; Chumpitazi et al., 2016; Collins et al., 2018; Grant et al., 2016; Tobler et al., 2014; Vaidya et al., 1999; Yuan et al., 2019)

Primary outcomes

  1. score by simulation parents

    Time frame: up to 1 hour after the simulation

    evaluation of breaking bad news by simulation parents, via a newly created questionnaire, measured in points, minimum score of zero points, maximum score of 69 points, the higher the score the better the outcome

Secondary outcomes

  1. score by participants

    Time frame: up to 1 hour after the simulation

    self-evaluation of breaking bad news by participants, via a newly created questionnaire, measured in points, minimum score of zero points, maximum score of 63 points, the higher the score the better the outcome

  2. score of video analysis

    Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year

    evaluation of breaking bad news by video raters, via a newly created questionnaire, measured in points, minimum score of zero points, maximum score of 270 points, the higher the score the better the outcome

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Medical University of Vienna

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Improving Breaking Bad News in Pediatrics by Simulated Communication: The Prospective Randomized Controlled SimCom Study

Acronym: SimCom

Important dates

Study start
2021
Primary completion
2022
Study completion
2022
First posted
Apr 19, 2024
Registry last updated
Apr 19, 2024

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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