Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Nov 12:12:2397-2404.
doi: 10.2147/PPA.S183106. eCollection 2018.

Delivering bad news: patient's perspective and opinions

Krzysztof Sobczak  1 , Katarzyna Leoniuk  1 , Agata Janaszczyk  1
Affiliations

Delivering bad news: patient's perspective and opinions

Krzysztof Sobczak et al. Patient Prefer Adherence. .

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of our research was to gain knowledge about patients' opinions, experiences, and preferences with regard to the way the news is being delivered to them.

Materials and methods: Detailed research was carried out on a group of 314 patients using the CAWI (Computer-Assisted Web Interview) technique. Adult responders who had earlier received bad news were questioned about their opinion about the way the doctor acted while delivering bad news and how he did it.

Results: Patients, who define the following aspects of their visit as negative/lacking: 1) doctor's behavior in the moment of delivering bad news, 2) amount of time devoted to the visit, 3) lack of doctor's attention, 4) usage of medical terminology, 5) doctor's honesty, 6) emotional and cognitive support from the doctor, more often tend to change the doctor in charge of their therapy or decide to cease the medical treatment.

Conclusion: Doctors' behavior and the way they deliver news to patients are key elements that strongly influence patients' future therapy. It makes an impact on patient's decision whether to continue or cease the treatment. In the first case, it also leads the patient to choose to continue the treatment under the guidance of the same specialist or to find another one. The data that we acquired and that we will discuss below will form the basis for editing a communication protocol concerning delivering bad news. It is necessary to create such a protocol in order to improve the quality of communication with patients, especially as regards delivering bad news to them.

Keywords: diagnosis; doctor-patient relationship; truth disclosure.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

References

    1. Hulsman RL, Pranger S, Koot S, Fabriek M, Karemaker JM, Smets EM. How stressful is doctor-patient communication? Physiological and psychological stress of medical students in simulated history taking and bad-news consultations. Int J Psychophysiol. 2010;77(1):26–34. - PubMed
    1. Zolnierek KB, Dimatteo MR. Physician communication and patient adherence to treatment: a meta-analysis. Med Care. 2009;47(8):826–834. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Golin C, Dimatteo MR, Duan N, Leake B, Gelberg L. Impoverished diabetic patients whose doctors facilitate their participation in medical decision making are more satisfied with their care. J Gen Intern Med. 2002;17(11):857–866. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Beck RS, Daughtridge R, Sloane PD. Physician-patient communication in the primary care office: a systematic review. J Am Board Fam Pract. 2002;15(1):25–38. - PubMed
    1. Clark PA. Medical practices’ sensitivity to patients’ needs. Opportunities and practices for improvement. J Ambul Care Manage. 2003;26(2):110–123. - PubMed