Table 6 Apriori themes, emerged subthemes, and the associated meaning units

Improved Knowledge

Acquired SI communication skills

Acquired talking techniques in framing discussions

“Learned some techniques to talk to the family of palliative patients”

Acquired useful general knowledge

Good learning experience

“This was a pretty good learning experience for me”

Acquired empathy skills

Acquired empathetic skills

“…Learned a lot about empathetic skills that I can use in daily practice”

Improved Attitude

Attitude towards engaging in SI conversations

Comfortable and at ease

“…helped me become more comfortable and at ease with end-of-life conversations”

Attitude towards improving patient care

I see the value

“I see the value it brings to patients and their families”

Attitude towards receiving future training in SI conversations

Extremely applicable

“…it is extremely applicable to our practice. I would recommend all EM doctors undergo training such as this”

Improved Practice

Commitment to using acquired skills in clinical practice

I will incorporate skills into practice

“I look forward to incorporating this style of talking about goals of care with my patients and families”

Already utilizing taught skills in clinical practice

I already used learned skill

“The very next day I had a patient/family interaction that I was able to identify and navigate because of the training…”