ArticleBMC medical education2021
A study of Chinese medical students' communication pattern in delivering bad news: an ethnographic discourse analysis approach.
Article in BMC medical education, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Toward compassionate communication: a rapid review on facilitating the dementia disclosure process.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Pooled it
- An exploratory study of communication training for Chinese medicine practitioners in Hong Kong to integrate patients' conventional medical history.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2023Trial
- Culturally sensitive CLEAR guidelines on disclosing and communicating a diagnosis of dementia.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Article
- Breaking bad news: a cross-sectional study assessing SPIKES protocol adherence and other methods employed among medical doctors in Nigeria.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- How do they eat: a digital diet ethnography of dietary behavior determinants among New Zealand and Chinese university students.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- How to break bad news and how to learn this skill: results from an international North-Eastern German Society for Gynecological Oncology (NOGGO) survey among physicians and medical students with 1089 participantsInternational journal of gynecological cancer : official journal of the International Gynecological Cancer Society · 2023Article
- The priorities, challenges, and scope of clinical communication teaching perceived by clinicians from different disciplines: a Hong Kong case study.BMC primary care · 2022Article
- Revisiting discourse analysis in medical education research.International journal of medical education · 2022Article
- Delivering Bad News: Self-Assessment and Educational Preferences of Medical Students.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBreaking bad news is inevitable for prospective doctors, it is important for medical students to learn how to humanely communicate devastating news to patients. This study explores the discourse strategies used by Chinese medical students when conducting critical conversations via role-play scenarios.
methodsFifty Year-6 medical students attending the 'Serious Illness Communication Module' were recruited from a local medical school in Hong Kong. They were asked to participate voluntarily in two role-play scenarios requiring them to break bad news to a simulated patient in Cantonese. The verbal interactions were video-recorded and analysed using an ethnographic discourse approach to unpack the quality of the observed interaction sequences and identify the discourse strategies strategically used by the medical students to overcome any communication breakdowns (e.g. linguistic expressions conveying diagnoses) and show empathy to patients.
resultsSix discourse strategies for delivering bad news were identified in the Chinese context: (1) placing great emphasis on patients' emotional needs; (2) informing patients with a balanced focus on medical and emotional needs; (3) directing patients' attention to treatment options; (4) acknowledging concerns about dying patients' physical discomfort and wishes; (5) directing bad news disclosure to patients; and (6) addressing the family expectations of patients. The majority of the Chinese medical students in this study used a patient-oriented approach to cater to the patients' emotional and physical needs. They also often informed and acknowledged the patients' family members.
conclusionsWhen delivering bad news, medical students should be equipped with discourse strategies that effectively balance interpersonal communication with the communication of medical expertise, which is integral to ensuring patients' participation, their understanding and satisfaction with their clinicians. This is in accordance with the existing communication frameworks for critical conversation and demonstrates awareness of the needs in the Chinese context. However, some students demonstrated poor sensitivity to non-verbal cues, such as tone, manners and attitude. Thus, more training using a culturally appropriate model of communication for critical conversation should be promoted.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.