The effect of communication skills training on residents’ physiological arousal in a breaking bad news simulated task

Objective

Breaking bad news (BBN) is a complex task which involves dealing cognitively with different relevant dimensions and a challenging task which involves dealing with intense emotional contents. No study however has yet assessed in a randomized controlled trial design the effect of a communication skills training on residents’ physiological arousal during a BBN task.

Methods

Residents’ physiological arousal was measured, in a randomized controlled trial design, by heart rate and salivary cortisol before, during and after a BBN simulated task.

Results

Ninety-eight residents were included. MANOVA showed significant group-by-time effects. Trained residents’ mean heart rate levels remained elevated after training and cortisol areas under the curve increased after training compared to untrained residents.

Conclusion

Communication skills training has an effect on residents’ physiological arousal. Residents’ self-efficacy and communication skills improvements in a BBN simulated task are associated with an elevated physiological arousal, which becomes proportional to the complexity of the task and reflects a better engagement and performance.

Practice implications

Residents should be informed that, to perform a task, they need to engage in the task with a physiological arousal proportional to the complexity of this task. Communication skills training should be adapted.