Prescriptions for saying good-bye: teaching termination to family practice residents.

Physicians terminate doctor-patient relationships at various times during their careers. Preparing physicians for this process should be part of residency training in family practice. This report describes the structured role-playing exercises and physician scripts used to teach termination skills. Evaluation of these teaching methods suggests that residents value termination instruction, prefer participative approaches, and report greater sensitivity to the feelings and issues evoked by termination.