The Palliative Care Clinical Evaluation Exercise

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this resource is to evaluate the feasibility and perceived educational value among internal medicine interns as related to the Palliative Care Clinical Exercise (CEX), a new experience-based intervention to teach communication skills in giving bad news and discussing code status. The intervention allows faculty to observe, evaluate, and give feedback to house staff based on their actual discussions with patients and families. A PowerPoint presentation, instructional materials, and all necessary surveys and logs are provided. The intervention was implemented among the entire 2002–2003 cohort of 60 interns in the categorical Internal Medicine Residency Programs at the University of Pittsburgh. The authors collected feasibility measurements at the time of intervention, and interns' attitudes were measured 1 week after intervention and at the end of the intern year. End-of-year survey results indicated that 82% of respondents felt the exercise was either very or extremely valuable, and 76% of respondents felt the exercise was either very or extremely valuable in improving their communication skills.

Keywords

• Death
• Truth Disclosure
• Dying
• Hospice
• Resuscitation Orders