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

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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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.

Official Title
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Breaking Bad News Skills of Doctors and Residents in Anesthesia and Surgical Specialties in Spain: a Cross-sectional Survey

Conditions
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Communication Programs, Communication Research, Patient Satisfaction, Doctor Patient Relation

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Breaking bad news skills


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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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

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Surgical specialties<br> | Other: Breaking bad news skills<br>* Communication skills analyzed by a specialized questionnaire designed from a Breaking bad news protocol developed in 2018-2019 in Barcelona.<br>|
| Anesthesiology<br> | Other: Breaking bad news skills<br>* Communication skills analyzed by a specialized questionnaire designed from a Breaking bad news protocol developed in 2018-2019 in Barcelona.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Number of times having to communicate a bad new in the last year. | Question on our questionnaire. The answer will be a number, expected to be from 0 to 200, approximately. | Two months | 
| Number of hours in training in communication and breaking bad news skills. | Question on our questionnaire. The answer will be the number of hours of professional training in the specific field of communication to patients. | Two months | 
| Self-evaluation of the skills in breaking bad news and their self-perceived quality. | 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. | Two months | 
| Knowledge of Second victim concept | Direct question in our questionnaire: we ask the health-care professionals to define the Second victim concept. | Two months | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Where have the professionals acquired their skills in breaking bad news if they have not taken a training program? | 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. | Two months | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Breaking bad news, Communication skills, Surveys and Questionnaires, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Anesthesiology, Specialties, Surgical