Assessment of physicians' knowledge and practice in breaking bad news: a cross-sectional study

• Autor(a) principal: Ferreira, Esther Angelica Luiz
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Valete, Cristina Ortiz Sobrinho, Oliveira, Mayra de Fátima Martins de, Tanaka, Stella Naomi, Paschoalino, Daniela, Cicotti, Nathália Fahl, Rocha, Sheyla Ribeiro
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.34632/cadernosdesaude.2022.11478

Introduction: Breaking bad news is an essential part of the medical professional’s performance. Historically, some obstacles oppose this practice, and transmitting difficult news in a clear and emphatic way, meeting the individual needs of patients, requires preparation and may have the help of protocols. Objectives: The  objective of the study is to understand how health professionals deal with the communication of difficult news and what their self-perception of aptitude for this communication is. Materials and Methods: This is a survey-type study. The study population consisted of physicians who worked in a tertiary hospital and who answered a questionnaire from September to December 2018. The sample was of convenience. Results: Although most of the 109 doctors worked in emergency and most understood that they should communicate the bad news to the patient, as well as their family, 17.4% reported that they rarely made this type of  communication and most were unaware of a protocol, being that 71% of professionals considered themselves able to communicate bad news. Conclusions: It is understood that there are gaps in physicians’ self-perception about breaking bad news. These findings demonstrate that there is a need for educational measures on the subject.