Teaching medical students the art of medical error full disclosure: evaluation of a new curriculum
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 15, 2026

Setup and Execution of the Rapid Cycle Deliberate Practice Death Notification Curriculum
Published on: August 5, 2020
Anne J Gunderson1, Kelly M Smith, David B Mayer
1Department of Medical Education, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago, IL 60612, USA. agunders@uic.edu
Background:
Despite the acknowledgment that error disclosure is essential to patient safety and the patient-provider relationship, there is little undergraduate training related to error disclosure.
Description:
Pilot test and evaluate an educational module designed to improve student confidence in understanding and performing medical error disclosure. The training was designed to establish competency in the four Rs of apology-recognition, responsibility, regret, and remedy-and included a 3-hr interactive discussion, training DVDs, practice of full disclosure using standardized patients, and facilitated reflection. Students were assessed pre and post using a self-administered confidence survey.
Evaluations:
Confidence among students improved significantly from 11.5 +/- 2.9 before to 15.3 +/- 1.3 after the module (p <.0001).
Conclusions:
The full disclosure educational module significantly improved students' perceived confidence in admitting medical errors and their confidence in understanding and performing the full disclosure of a medical error.
Related Concept Videos
Nursing Process for Patient and Caregiver Teaching III: Evaluation and Documentation
Nurses can use several methods to evaluate patient outcomes. For example, oral questions can assess cognitive learning, patient...
Methods of Documentation III: PIE
Errors occurring during blood pressure monitoring
Several factors...
Nursing Process for Patient and Caregiver Teaching I: Assessment and Diagnosis
It is critical to determine the patient's learning needs during the assessment. Determination of learning needs compounds data from the...
Systematic Error: Methodological and Sampling Errors
Sampling errors originate from improper sampling methods or the wrong sample population. These errors can be minimized by refining the sampling strategy. Defective instruments or faulty calibrations are the sources of instrumental...
Accountability and Responsibility of a Nurse II
For example, a nurse demonstrating respect and compassion might listen attentively to a patient's concerns, provide comfort...
