Faculty Development to Change the Paradigm of Communication Skills Teaching in Oncology

Dr B, a faculty oncologist supervising fellows at an outpatient oncology clinic, faces a common teaching quandary. A second-year oncology fellow presents a patient with metastatic lung cancer, which has progressed despite second-line palliative chemotherapy. The fellow concludes his presentation, which was technically impeccable, by saying, “I thought the patient was not getting how bad this is, so it was time to hang crepe. I told him it was a choice between phase I or nothing.” Dr B knows the fellow to be a careful physician who is genuinely concerned about the well-being of his patients. Yet the fellow's comment about hanging crepe raises a red flag for Dr B, because in his experience, blunt disclosures of poor prognoses may lead patients to wonder if their physician is still on their side. In addition, Dr B does not like telling patients that there is nothing more to be done. But he is not sure how to get the fellow to understand this. Should he confront the fellow about this, or just let the comment pass?