[High fidelity simulation training for medical oncology announcement consultation]

Abstract

Introduction: Medical oncology bad news consultation is a particularly stressful situation for both the patient and the physician. High-fidelity simulation is a learning option that has never been evaluated in France in this field.

Materials and methods: This is a feedback from simulated announcement consultations carried out from January 2018 to May 2019. Residents from the medical oncology and radiotherapy departments performed high-fidelity simulations at the announcement consultation with an announcement nurse, a psychologist, a certified coach and an oncologist. A competency assessment was completed in pre-test, immediate post-test and after 5 months.

Results: Fourteen of the 16 eligible interns participated. The pre-test competency assessment showed that interns over 5 semesters reported being more comfortable at the consultation (P=0.04) and thought they were clearly explaining the disease (P=0.03). However, all residents, regardless of the semester, felt stressed before a consultation. The evolution of parameters skills after the simulation was positive for all criteria, particularly for adaptation to patient reactions, use of appropriate vocabulary and reduction of stress (P<0.05). This evolution was independent of the gender, curriculum, semester, or previous completion of a medical oncology internship. More than 80% of the students were ready to repeat this type of training.

Conclusion: This training demonstrates the value of simulation training for medical oncology advertising consultation.

Keywords: Cancer; Education; Formation; Pédagogie; Simulation; Training.