Teaching perspectives on the communication of difficult news of genetic conditions to medical students

Abstract

Informing parents that their child has a diagnosis of Down syndrome (DS) is a common example of the delivery of unexpected or difficult news. Expectations and life planning will change, and if detected prenatally, discussions might include the option of pregnancy termination. Medical school curricula currently include training in breaking unexpected news; however, it is difficult to teach and assess. We use the perspectives of clinicians, educators, and a medical student who is the parent of a child with DS to frame a discussion on teaching, practicing, and assessing communication of difficult news in human genetics during medical school.