 What is up guys karma medic here and welcome back to another dose. How have you guys been? I hope interview prep has been going well I've got another MMI video for you guys today. So hopefully this helps you in your prep as well Do let me know in comments down below if you're getting any more interviews If you've been to an interview how it went anything like that if you guys want to follow me on Instagram You can do so over here and you can see a little bit more about my daily life at KCL and as a medical student So let's jump straight into this video when I did the ask me anything on Instagram a couple of days ago One of the questions that I got so much overwhelmingly was can you please do a video about ethical scenarios or role-play scenarios? Anything like that. And so today I'm gonna be doing a role-playing scenario about breaking bad news now for medical school interviews Don't worry. You're probably not going to get a role-play scenario where you have to break bad news like a Patient having cancer or having received a very bad diagnosis or even maybe Some complication having been had in surgery. So now they have nerve damage or brain damage or anything like that Those are super super difficult scenarios that we probably wouldn't get asked in an interview for medical school So how these questions typically present themselves in a medical school interview is that you'll be given a small blurb saying something along the lines of Your friend went on vacation and you had to look after their pet or you had to watch over their house or something like that And while you were doing that either you broke one of their favorite ornaments like a vase or a flower pot or something like that Or you managed to run over their pet or their animal died while they were under your care Something along those lines. That's a more likely scenario of how you would have to break bad news to someone So as far as how you break bad news This is a really important skill and something that you definitely need to learn over your course of medical school And it's good to know a couple of things for the medical school interview as well So breaking bad news is obviously very difficult You want to make sure that you Deliver the news to the person who needs to hear it But you have to do it in a sensitive way in a way that makes them feel as best as they possibly can You want to make sure that you're empathic and showing as much of that empathy as you can throughout the entire communication process So that's the first thing that I want to say for a general tip regarding this question You want to be a real human okay if someone was sitting in front of you and telling you that their pet died or that they lost one of their favorite ornaments that had a Lot of sentimental value to it for example You would you would be upset and you would want to show that upset to the person who is sitting in front of you You want to let them know that you care So you can really show that throughout the interview by your body language by your demeanor by your tone You can really give off the idea that you are being empathic that you are showing that you care and that you are also kind of sad At what has happened if it is your fault in the scenario you want to be apologetic throughout Don't ever make them feel like it was their fault or they had something to do with it Take responsibility if the responsibility is yours and be apologetic So I want to go into a little bit more detail about how I would answer the question and the kinds of things I would talk about and the kinds of things that I would also definitely not say or talk about Let's say you receive a blurb for your MMI interview You've shown up at your interview you go into the first station You read a little piece of paper that says in this roleplay in the scenario that you're about to do you and her are close friends You've been house sitting whilst your friend has been on holiday and you have to explain to them when they got back that you've run over their Cat by accident when you were backing out of the garage when you tell the actor the actor becomes hysterical and very angry and Yeah, what do you do? How do you tackle the situation? How do you talk to your friend who's just come back from holiday and you are the one who has ran over their cat? And you might think that this sounds really crazy and it's like way too out there of a scenario But you will get scenarios like this that are meant to make you feel a little bit uncomfortable that are meant to be quite Difficult so that you guys can be put in that situation so that you can show how you would deal with something of this serious nature So let's start off with the very beginning when your friend comes home from holiday You're not gonna immediately jump into saying whoa before you tell me anything I need to tell you this you might want to make a little bit of small talk Just ask them a bit about how their holiday went so that they can kind of be eased back into their Situation a little bit before you break the bad news I don't think this is entirely necessary And in fact some people would probably want to know immediately before they settled down before anything happened What has been going on and so I guess it's up to you and you can do this at your discretion Now after that small intro before you actually break the bad news You want to make sure that you signpost and what I mean by signposting is that you let the person in front of you know? That you are about to say something that might be upsetting to them You let them know that this is going to be a bit difficult You make it clear that you're moving on from the conversation You were just having and now you're about to do something that is different We do this all the time in patient interviews when we're about to ask some personal questions For example if we're asking about sexual history or recreational drug use I'll say something like I'm going to ask you some questions now that might seem a bit personal But it's something that we do need to know in order to find the best management or treatment for you And then I would say have you ever used any recreational drugs or are you sexually active one at a time? Obviously, but anyway, so signposting is super super important It lets the person know that there's something coming It lets them know to prepare themselves a little bit if your scenario happened to be in a patient setting in a clinical setting Then this would also be a good time to ask the person if they're prepared to hear this news at this moment You can say are you ready to hear this news now? Or would you maybe want to come back with a family member or a close friend or something like that? If that would make it easier for you You want to give them that option and ask for their permission before you break this news to them in our current scenario You're talking to your best friend or a close friend whose cat you were taking care of so you don't need to really ask for their permission But you can signpost and say hey, I'm but say something that might be a little bit upsetting Maybe do you want to sit down or can we talk about this inside or anything like that now? After you've signed posted and you've prepared them that you're going to be breaking bad news You want to just go for it and break the bad news. You don't want to beat around the bush You don't say any lies. You don't lighten the situation or anything like that You want to say it as clearly and simply as possible so they understand what you are saying for example for our scenario You can say Jessica or Natalie or whatever the person's name is. I'm really really sorry But when you were away and I was backing out of the driveway in my car I accidentally ran over your cat or whatever the situation is obviously when you're saying this you want to show a Lot more emotion a lot more empathy I'm currently quite sick, but I was feeling really motivated to make a video. So that's what I'm doing But hopefully you would have a little bit more emotion when you were actually breaking this news Once you've actually broken the bad news You want to make sure you give the person a little bit of space a little bit of time and silence that they can Understand what it is that you've said studies have shown over and over again That when you tell a patient that they have cancer or you give them a very bad diagnosis They sort of tune out and they don't listen to anything you say after that So once you've broken the bad news you want to just be a little bit silent give them some space to understand and take in everything That's going on so now you've broken the bad news Probably the hardest part for the patient or for their best friend is over now They've heard the worst of the situation and now you want to know how to manage it or how to deal with the person once they've become very angry or once they've become very upset and That is going to be slightly more difficult to navigate and I'll tell you guys a couple of things that I would definitely do and some Things also that I wouldn't do so I want to start off with things that I definitely would not do Okay, when you're breaking bad news like this to someone you want to be as empathetic and apologetic as possible You don't want to at any point make them feel like it was their fault You never want to push them and tell them to hurry up or sort of get over it. Don't worry It's going to be okay. You'll be fine. You'll get over it. You just need time You can buy a new cap blah blah. These are things that you definitely do not want to say Obviously don't imply that it's their fault or tell them to get over it or tell them not to cry or anything like that These are all things that are big no-nos and big red flags You definitely don't want to say them in your interview and also obviously don't make the conversation about yourself Don't tell them about how super bad you fell and how many hours you spent crying and how you weren't sure what to do or whatever Let the person soak up this information and deal with it in their own way Don't push them or tell them how to feel or try to move their feelings in a different direction than what they are going through Now let's talk about a couple of things that you definitely do want to do some things that you should do when Consoling the person in front of you after you've broken bad news to them first and foremost. You just want to be a human You want to be a normal person? I know that you're in an interview situation And I know that you're role-playing and it seems super artificial and that there's an actor in front of you This person's cat didn't actually die and it seems really artificial But and I understand that do try to get involved in the situation Do try and put yourself in their shoes and see how you might feel or how they might feel So of course when this is going on, you know, you would be visibly upset You would want to show that you were upset and you would want to console them as much as possible So you might say some things like oh, you know, your your pet was so lucky to have you when they were alive They lived such a great life and you enjoyed so much time together Blah blah blah something like that just to make them I guess think of the better times I'm trying to remember the cat in a more positive light. You definitely also want to validate their experience So you want to tell them you have every right to feel this way I know that I would feel extremely upset as well. If I was in a similar situation something like this must be very hard for you I'm so sorry for what you're going through. This is very difficult or frustrating. I'm sure Something like that to validate their experience to let them know that what they're feeling and what they're going through is okay You definitely don't want to be saying things like oh, don't worry about it or don't cry Why are you so upset? We'll get over it These are all things that are not going to help at all if you can't relate to their experience You should also say that you can admit that, you know You can say I've never lost a pet before or I've never lost a family member before I can't imagine what you must be going through This must be very difficult You can see that a couple things start to come up over and over again as well And of course you can also suggest that they reach out for help if they need it You can say, you know, if you have any family or friends that can help you in this situation And of course you can also offer yourself as a means of support You can say if you're ever upset or if you ever need to talk to someone, of course I'm there for you I want to talk to you and help you through this as much as possible like please feel free to talk to me I would never be judgmental You know, I always want to help something like that You can even help them seek out counseling sessions or support groups in order to help them overcome their loss And you might think that losing a pet is kind of stupid and why would someone be upset about losing a pet? But to a lot of people losing a pet is like losing a child You know, some people take their pets very very seriously and they really love them and really adore them So even if you might not understand that pet human connection very very well You should be aware of other people's feelings and how they might feel towards their pets And generally I feel like you need to find a balance between Asking them lots of questions and leaving enough room for silence and for them to sort of soak in and understand and for them to talk and initiate Conversation, so I do think it's good to ask lots of questions in order to get them Maybe talking about how they feel or just expressing themselves Generally talking will help get things off your chest and will make you feel better But don't forget to give them silence as well and you can read this scenario You can see how the patient or how the actors is acting and you can feed off of their body language and demeanor and what they are saying And yeah, sometimes just being there to listen to someone is going to go a really really long way you know if you just sit there and listen to what they have to say take in everything and Acknowledge their sadness acknowledge their feelings and make them feel like that's okay That's gonna go a very long way to helping someone feel better and a really really big tip if you're getting stuck You're not sure what to say and especially at the end if you haven't said this before is always ask the actor You know, do you have anything that you want to ask me? Do you have anything that you want to say? Because that gives them an opportunity to get something off their chest something that they've really wanted to say but they felt like they might not Have been able to and also in the interview scenario the actor might prompt you and they might give you a hint as to something That you might have forgotten to talk about or something that you might have forgotten to do So definitely ask them if there's anything they would like to say and yeah guys I think that's all I have to say for this role-playing station Breaking Bad news honestly is quite a hard station and if you were to get it Would be one of the harder ones that you would get just get a feel for the scenario get a feel for how the actor is playing How they're acting and feed off of them mimic their body language mimic their empathy and just always be apologetic show empathy Show the actor and the interviewer that you care that you want to help remedy the situation You want to make them feel better so at the end of the day That's probably what you want to do as a normal human outside of the MMI interview You just kind of have to show it to the interviewer while you're there if you guys enjoyed it Don't forget to leave a like on this video and subscribe to my channel if you want to see more videos from me If there's any specific videos or topics that you guys want me to cover definitely leave a comment down below Follow me on Instagram if you haven't already I'm sure you'll enjoy what I post on there and you can ask me a lot more questions and talk to me directly on Instagram as well And yeah, that's it guys. I'll see you in the next video. Good luck preparing for your MMI interviews. Peace