Breaking Bad News Skills of Doctors and Residents in the Surgical Setting

• Conditions: Communication Programs; Patient Satisfaction; Communication Research; Doctor Patient Relation
• Interventions: Other: Breaking bad news skills

• Registration Number: NCT04308707
• Lead Sponsor: Hospital Clinic of Barcelona

Brief Summary

Breaking bad news is a very stressful and difficult situation for health care professionals, especially clinical doctors and surgeons. Acquiring skills for this sort of communication is very important due to the large volume of times that these professionals will have to deal with it and because it can affect the doctor-patient relationship forever.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the skill of surgeons and residents in surgical specialties in breaking bad news to patients and families across Spanish hospitals. This will be done by analyzing the subjects in terms of their knowledge and experience using a specialized questionnaire based on breaking bad news protocol, designed in the "Hospital Sant Joan de Déu" Children's hospital in Barcelona.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2020-03-11
• Study First Submitted QC: 2020-03-13
• Study Start: 2020-03-16
• Study First Posted: 2020-03-16
• Status Verified: 2024-10
• Last Update Submitted: 2024-10-04
• Last Update Posted: 2024-10-08
• Primary Completion: 2025-12-31
• Study Completion: 2026-12-31

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 50

Inclusion Criteria

• Doctors working in the Surgical Setting that accept and answer the specialized questionnaire.

Exclusion Criteria

• Questionnaire answered out of the time-frame
• Incomplete questionnaires

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Anesthesiology	Breaking bad news skills	-
Surgical specialties	Breaking bad news skills	-

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Number of times having to communicate a bad new in the last year.	Two months	Question on our questionnaire. The answer will be a number, expected to be from 0 to 200, approximately.
Number of hours in training in communication and breaking bad news skills.	Two months	Question on our questionnaire. The answer will be the number of hours of professional training in the specific field of communication to patients.
Self-evaluation of the skills in breaking bad news and their self-perceived quality.	Two months	In the self-administered questionnaire, 21 questions reflect specific and important items in communication designed from "La Primera notícia", a Breaking bad news protocol designed I the pediatric hospital "Hospital Sant Joan de Déu" in Barcelona.; Data will be analyzed using GraphPad.
Knowledge of Second victim concept	Two months	Direct question in our questionnaire: we ask the health-care professionals to define the Second victim concept.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Where have the professionals acquired their skills in breaking bad news if they have not taken a training program?	Two months	Question on our questionnaire. Possible answers are: * With the observation of peers and seniors.; * Studying by themselves from books and papers.; * Studying by themselves from videos and other internet content.; * With the experience of years of working.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Hospital Uiversitari Mútua de Terrassa; 🇪🇸 Barcelona, Spain