Empowering residents to discuss death: The best way may be the less complicated one

Medical trainees frequently report they do not feel prepared discuss death with patients and their families upon completion of their training. Utilizing a modified curriculum described in the literature, general pediatrics residents were taught a validated mechanism for communicating bad news and then practiced using the skills they learned either one-on-one with a standardized patient or in a group interview with a standardized patient. Preliminary results suggest the residents felt more comfortable practicing their newfound skills in a group interview with a standardized patient.