Emotion and training in simulated palliative care situations

Introduction: Competency-based learning in healthcare responds to the increasing complexity of care situations and the resulting decision-making; broadening training objectives from the transmission of theoretical knowledge to an approach more rooted in "acting" in situations. Simulation in healthcare corresponds to a decontextualized level of savoir-agir, based on the ability to mobilize knowledge in an emotional situation. Since the HAS report published in 2012, the educational value of simulation in healthcare has been well established. And yet, in 2021, only 0.3% of simulations listed in France concern palliative care. Palliative care is, by definition, a complex and emotionally-charged form of care, for which the "emotional intelligence", "good distance" and "emotional balance" of caregivers are called upon (4,5). These are all elements that call into question the aim of palliative care training, particularly when the institutional framework for professionals is not specifically organized to confront the death of the other.

Method: The primary objective of this study is to explore the emotional experience of caregivers during a continuous simulation training session in palliative care and their collective analysis of it in terms of their emotional experience of palliative care. The secondary aim is to explore what this collective analysis brings to the participants' palliative care training.

To this end, we carried out a prospective, single-center qualitative study based on caregiver focus groups following training. The interview guide was constructed using the photo elicitation method, in order to facilitate caregivers talking about their emotions. Analysis was carried out thematically, inspired by inked theorizing, and triangulated until data sufficiency.