Learning together: use of simulated patients with nursing and medical students for breaking bad news.

This article reports a small research study on the use of simulated patients for teaching medical and nursing students how to break bad news. A total of 34 nursing and medical students undertook the activity in mixed groups. Data obtained from free response questionnaires and a focus group were analysed and independently coded to identify recurrent themes across the data and the two student groups. Students reported that simulated patients gave instant feedback about their performance which they found useful. Students felt that working in doctor-nurse pairs helped them formulate strategies for imparting the bad news and that this made them feel better prepared and less isolated. The article outlines why the use of simulated patients may be valuable and suggests that this form of teaching could be used in other types of communications training. The use of simulated patients appears to have the potential to enhance patient-practitioner and practitioner-practitioner interactions.