OBJECTIVE: Breaking bad news (BBN) is a core component of medicine. Psychophysiological studies confirm the subjective reports of doctors that BBN is a stressful experience. This study investigated doctors' physiological stress responses prior to and during two simulated bad news consultations. METHODS: Thirty-one doctors participated in a speech-interaction task and two simulated BBN consultations. Heart rate (HR) and skin conductance (SC) were recorded using consecutive 30-s epochs during each of the interactions. The simulations were video recorded. RESULTS: Most doctors showed an early anticipatory increase in HR and SC that peaked during the reading of the case history prior to the BBN consultations. Most doctors then experienced a brief and relatively small stress response. However, about one-third of the doctors showed a significant and sustained stress response. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that most doctors were cognitively engaged with the BBN tasks, however, a small proportion of doctors might have focused more on their own internal feelings and less on these contextual features. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: In regards to training medical students and doctors, these results suggest that there is a need to focus more on the impact of these encounters on the doctors, not just their performance during these encounters.
OBJECTIVE: Breaking bad news (BBN) is a core component of medicine. Psychophysiological studies confirm the subjective reports of doctors that BBN is a stressful experience. This study investigated doctors' physiological stress responses prior to and during two simulated bad news consultations. METHODS: Thirty-one doctors participated in a speech-interaction task and two simulated BBN consultations. Heart rate (HR) and skin conductance (SC) were recorded using consecutive 30-s epochs during each of the interactions. The simulations were video recorded. RESULTS: Most doctors showed an early anticipatory increase in HR and SC that peaked during the reading of the case history prior to the BBN consultations. Most doctors then experienced a brief and relatively small stress response. However, about one-third of the doctors showed a significant and sustained stress response. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that most doctors were cognitively engaged with the BBN tasks, however, a small proportion of doctors might have focused more on their own internal feelings and less on these contextual features. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: In regards to training medical students and doctors, these results suggest that there is a need to focus more on the impact of these encounters on the doctors, not just their performance during these encounters.
Authors: Barbara A Bernhardt; Katherine Kellom; Alexandra Barbarese; W Andrew Faucett; Ronald J Wapner Journal: J Genet Couns Date: 2014-02-27 Impact factor: 2.537
Authors: Sonja Weilenmann; Ulrich Schnyder; Brian Parkinson; Claudio Corda; Roland von Känel; Monique C Pfaltz Journal: Front Psychiatry Date: 2018-08-28 Impact factor: 4.157
Authors: Melissa M Littlefield; Martin J Dietz; Des Fitzgerald; Kasper J Knudsen; James Tonks Journal: Front Hum Neurosci Date: 2015-10-20 Impact factor: 3.169