Abstract
Background. One of the most challenging and stressful tasks that clinicians must perform regularly is the communication of bad news with distressed patients. In spite of the importance of this clinical skill, very few doctors receive formal training in this area. Physicians and residents generally report both a lack of confidence and feelings of incompetence when asked to self-assess their communication skills. Research has shown that effective communication is a skill that can be learned. Recently, there have been studies done to explore various methods of communication skills training for adult-learners in medical school and residency programs. Second Life technology is a virtual computer world that has shown promise for providing a positive training experience by allowing trainees to act out a bad news communication experience through the use of ‘‘avatars’’ which are on-line graphical self-representations.
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