Breaking bad news to patient/attendants: A Medical Dilemma

Abstract

Breaking bad news to patient/attendants: A Medical Dilemma

Dr Mamta Kumari ¹, Dr Mandeep ², Dr Gaurav Sharma ³, Dr Vijay Pal ⁴, Dr Kunal Khanna ⁵, Dr Sandeep Giri ⁶, Dr Tarun Dagar ⁷

¹Senior Resident, Department of Forensic Medicine, Kalpana Chawla Govt. Medical College, Karnal

²PG Resident, Department of Forensic Medicine, Kalpana Chawla Govt. Medical College, Karnal

³PG Resident, Department of Forensic Medicine, Kalpana Chawla Govt. Medical College, Karnal

⁴Professor & Head, Department of Forensic Medicine, Kalpana Chawla Govt. Medical College, Karnal

⁵Associate Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine, Kalpana Chawla Govt. Medical College, Karnal

⁶Assistant Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine, Kalpana Chawla Govt. Medical College, Karnal

⁷Assistant Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine, Kalpana Chawla Govt. Medical College, Karnal

Abstract: Any information given to the patients or their relatives that drastically changes their mental state or emotions, is considered as a bad news. Breaking bad news properly is an essential skill for all healthcare professionals as the same may be required to be repeated multiple times during their professional careers. This is a negotiation process between the doctor and the patient, but for a diversity of reasons, doctors frequently find it challenging. They are apprehensive of provoking a bad response from the patient or their family members and may feel uncomfortable. For the most part, doctors and other healthcare professionals, inadequate training in delivering unpleasant news is considered as a handicap in their medical practice. Developing this talent requires adherence to the client-centered counselling tenets. In this paper, the authors analyse the forward a six-step SPIKES protocol, as a systematic and easy communication strategy for breaking bad news. Gaining proficiency in handling challenging circumstances offers beneficial therapeutic effects and is a fulfilling career path.

Keywords:  Bad News, Communication, SPIKES, Client-centered, Counselling.