[Assessment of medical students' ability to communicate unpleasant news]

At one station in an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) medical students were assessed for their ability to inform a mock patient that the diagnosis was an incurable and fatal disease. The "patient" was a profession actor. The performances were videotaped with the permission of all parties involved. In spite of methodological problems, the test papers to reflect the communicative skills of the students and satisfies the requirements for validity, fairness and reliability. The advantages and disadvantages of using "standardized patients" are discussed.