Delivering bad news in medical education and confluences with the context of covid-19 pandemic

The article presents an exploratory, descriptive study on Bad News Communication skills (CMN) of medical interns.  The student's perception  was on learning for the CMN was investigated with a cross-sectional design and a mixed approach. A questionnaire was applied, 176 participants were obtained, and a focus group was held with 12 students. The data were analyzed through the calculation of means and standard deviations for quantitative variables and the focus group reports were subjected to Content Analysis. It was observed that in the group that had training, compared to the  one who did not, ocurred twice frequency with more skill for CMN. In the CMN's management, it was considered harder to be "honest without taking away hope” (69%) and “to deal with the patient's emotion” (59%). 99.4% knew the SPIKES protocol, of which 41.5% considered the expression of emotions as its most difficult stage. Communication and handling of emotions were pointed out as the main difficulties in the doctor-patient relationship, with deficits in the teaching of CMN. It was found that  CMN is not limited to the technical issue, but it involves attitudes that need to be addressed with different methodologies, as well as the implementation of educational policies in the medical field, especially given the demands that emerges with the covid-19 pandemic.O artigo apresenta um estudo exploratório descritivo sobre habilidades de Comunicação de Más Notícias (CMN) de internos de Medicina. Investigou-se a percepção discente sobre aprendizagem para CMN com delineamento transversal e abordagem mista. Houve aplicação de questionário, obtendo 176 participantes, e grupo focal com 12 estudantes. Os dados foram analisados pelo cálculo das médias e desvios-padrão para variáveis quantitativas e as falas do grupo focal foram submetidas à Análise de Conteúdo. Observou-se o dobro da frequência com mais habilidade para CMN no grupo que teve treinamento em comparação ao que não teve. No manejo da CMN, considerou-se mais difícil “ser honesto, sem tirar a esperança” (69%) e “lidar com a emoção do paciente” (59%). 99,4% conheciam o protocolo SPIKES, destes 41,5% consideraram a expressão de emoções sua etapa mais difícil. A comunicação e o manejo das emoções foram apontados como desafios na relação médico-paciente, com déficits no ensino de CMN. Obteve-se que a CMN não se limita à técnica, mas envolve atitudes que precisam ser abordadas com metodologias diversas, assim como requerem a implementação de políticas de educação na área médica, sobretudo diante das demandas emergentes da pandemia de Covid-19