THANATOLOGY FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS LEARNING TO DELIVER BAD NEWS.

Introduction and Objectives: Bad news is part of the medical routine, however, its impact on the physician and patient is overlooked. It’s known that many medical students aren’t prepared for delivering bad news and to face death, as a result of Hedonist Western Culture that tries to dissemble death. Therefore, it was organized a Workshop to awake empathy on medical students to deal with recurrent situations in medical practice, by understanding the psychiatric and psychological mechanisms of communicating bad news and sensitizing the students on patient contact and accordingly decreasing patient, and even student, trauma. Methodology: 63 medical students attended a lecture that addressed palliative care and a mental view on patient and student facing death. After being briefed on reporting bad prognosis techniques, students attend in a workshop practice with hypothetical situations with actors. They were trained in the ability of delivering bad news, empathy, communication and dealing with death. After it, there was a student "feedback" on the performance, when they used the knowledge gained to help colleagues. Conclusion and Results: The practice was successful, and the students understood the importance of clear communication. Also, they were sensitized on death subject, dealing with it more naturally, focusing on empathy to the suffering of the patient with new learned techniques to comfort and avoid traumas. Therefore, even though the mental support isn’t always emphasized by medical graduation, it’s essential to enable physicians to handle and transmit information more effectively. The students were trained to announce bad news protecting the patients and their own mental health.