Simulation-Based Training in Brain Death Determination Incorporating Family Discussion

Good medical care relies on communication as much as technical expertise, yet physicians often overestimate the efficacy of their patient communication skills. Teaching communication skills can be cost- and time-intensive, and efforts have rarely focused on challenging situations, such as conveying the news of a patient's brain death to a family member.

We developed a resource-sensitive simulation program to teach residents how to diagnose brain death and how to show empathy in discussing the diagnosis with the patient's family.

From 2015 to 2017, 3 cohorts of incoming neurology residents participated in the 3-day training exercise. The 2-hour preintervention assessment involved making the diagnosis of brain death and sharing the news with an actor portraying the patient's family member. The scoring via checklists consisted of 15 clinical skills, 9 apnea test-related skills, and 37 verbal skills related to family discussion. The 5-hour didactic intervention focused on technical aspects of the brain death examination and lessons in communication with role-playing. The 2-hour postintervention assessment repeated the brain death examination and family discussion simulations. Data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed rank test.

A total of 18 residents (100%) were assessed, with significant differences between preintervention and postintervention testing across all areas, including clinical assessment (45%-76%, P < .001), apnea testing (57%-92%, P < .001), and verbal communication (46%-73%, P < .001).

The findings suggest a benefit in simulation training for brain death examination, apnea testing, and the subsequent family discussion regarding the patient's diagnosis.