Teaching medical students how to break bad news
| Table 2: Responses from 359 students to questionnaire about the course on how to break bad news | |||||
| Question | Score on Likert scale*;
% of respondents† | ||||
| -2 | -1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Have you ever thought about the task of breaking bad news?
(Asked before the course, n = 914) | 2 | 6 | 24 | 59 | 9 |
| Did you find the course enjoyable?
(Asked after the course, n = 359) | 1 | 3 | 14 | 54 | 28 |
| Did you find the course useful?
(Asked after the course, n = 359) | 1 | 3 | 9 | 50 | 38 |
| Have you got any ideas about how you would approach breaking bad news?
(Asked before the course, n = 914) (Asked after the course, n = 359) | 3 0 | 14 0 | 35 8 |
47 75 | 1 17 |
| How competent do you feel now to break bad news?
(Asked before the course, n = 914) (Asked after the course, n = 359) | 7 0 | 31 2 | 39 24 |
22 69 | 1 5 |
| *A score of -2 was a very negative response, -1 was a negative response, 0 was an equivocal response, 1 was a positive response and 2 was a very positive response.
†Percentages may not sum to 100 because of rounding. | |||||