Doctors' stress responses and poor communication performance in simulated bad-news consultations.

Rhonda Brown; Stewart Dunn; Karen Byrnes; Richard Morris; Paul Heinrich; Joanne Shaw

Study

Doctors' stress responses and poor communication performance in simulated bad-news consultations.

December 9, 2009

Brown R, Dunn S, Byrnes K, et al. Acad Med. 2009;84(11):1595-602.

View more articles from the same authors.

Disclosing bad news to patients resulted in significant physiological and psychological stress for physicians. Doctors who performed poorly in these simulated scenarios were more likely to be fatigued or report symptoms of burnout.

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