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'Breaking bad news' within a paediatric setting: an evaluation report of a collaborative education workshop to
M Farrell1, S Ryan, B Langrick
1Royal Liverpool Children's NHS Trust, and Department of Nursing, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK. mfarrell@liv.ac.uk
Insights
This study evaluated a workshop for health professionals on breaking bad news in paediatric care. The training was found effective, with most participants recommending it for enhancing communication skills.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Communication Skills Training
- Paediatric Healthcare
Background:
- Breaking bad news is a challenging task for health professionals.
- Few health professionals receive specific training for this critical communication skill.
- Training programs often focus solely on medical staff, neglecting other essential healthcare professionals like nurses.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate a multi-professional, experiential training workshop.
- To assess the workshop's effectiveness in preparing health professionals for breaking bad news in paediatric settings.
- To determine the impact on knowledge and communication skills.
Main Methods:
- A one-day, multi-professional, experiential training workshop was conducted.
- Participants engaged in realistic scenarios with actors and debriefing sessions.
- Qualitative data from evaluation questionnaires were analyzed using Atlas.ti software.
Main Results:
- Seven common themes emerged, including practice development, value of sharing, feedback benefits, and teamwork.
- All participants found the workshop beneficial and an effective training method.
- 89% of participants strongly recommended the workshop to colleagues.
Conclusions:
- The educational approach is beneficial for preparing health professionals.
- The workshop fosters collaborative approaches to breaking bad news.
- Participants perceived enhanced preparedness in sensitive communication.
Unlabelled:
AIMS OF PROJECT: To evaluate a workshop to prepare health professionals for breaking bad news in the paediatric setting.
Background:
Breaking bad news can be difficult for health professionals, and it seems that few receive specific training for undertaking this challenging task. Latterly, however, there have been reports of training programmes being developed to prepare health professionals for breaking bad news, although most focus upon meeting needs of medical staff only. While doctors have a uniquely important role in breaking bad news it is evident that other health professionals, most frequently nurses, can be equally involved in this encounter. Accordingly, nurses and other professionals need training to recognize the contribution that they can make in ensuring sensitive and effective bad news disclosure.
Design:
A one-day, multi-professional, experiential training workshop.
Method:
Forty-five participants, mainly nurses (34, 76%) and doctors (10, 22%), attended one of five breaking bad news workshops set up for staff working in a range of paediatric settings including Accident and Emergency and Intensive Care. Each of the workshops was facilitated by three facilitators from varied backgrounds. Using an experiential design, participants were supported to explore and reflect upon breaking bad news issues, which also included engagement with actors to act out realistic bad news scenarios. Debriefing, using a positive learner-centred model of feedback, provided the main platform for promoting learning. Following the workshop, participants completed an evaluation questionnaire, seeking their perceptions of the effectiveness of the workshop in enhancing knowledge and communication skills.
Data Analysis:
Atlas.ti, a qualitative computer data analysis software program was used to explore the evaluation comments made by participants, resulting in the generation of common themes.
Findings:
Seven themes, including development of practice, the value of sharing, benefit of feedback, and team work, emerged from responses. All responses indicated that the workshop had been beneficial and an effective training method, with most participants (40 of 89%) indicating that they would strongly recommend their colleagues to attend a similar workshop.
Conclusion:
The educational approach reported is considered by participants to be beneficial in preparing health professionals for breaking bad news in a collaborative way.
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