Teaching medical error apologies: development of a multi-component intervention.

Background And Objectives: Apologizing is an important component in addressing medical errors; yet, offering apologies continues to challenge physicians. To address limitations of prior educational interventions, a multi-faceted, apologies intervention was developed to provide medical students with increasingly applied learning opportunities.

Methods: First-year medical students taking a professionalism course at the authors' Southeastern medical school in 2008 or 2009 were eligible for the study.