Who should give bad news?

  I’m starting this post with a disclaimer, and while it’s been a hell of a lot of days since I posted, disclaimers are only an occasional thing. Generally. So my return starts with a disclaimer. Please enjoy this setup Tweet, and enjoy the foreshadowing: then Let’s start with the premise, and then I’ll fill in the details. Who is the best person to break bad news? Short version, it’s an ER doctor! Why??? Well, let’s get into that. When in med school one of the thousands of papers we were assigned (I think it was my preventive medicine class but I cannot swear), one was about how to break bad news, and it was full of the excellent info about the ‘how to’ and I’m not going to address that, there are a zillion pages on giving bad news. What it did go into later and kind of an afterthought was the WHO should break bad news, and as a med student interested in EM (*wavered, long story) the recommendations and the why stuck with me. (I’d love you tell you what paper it was, and I’ve done (internet searches) and cannot find it, but, here’s what I remember, and all errors are mine should I get this wrong): First, a survey was done of patients with horrible (cancer) diagnoses, and the patients’ relationship with the person who told them their diagnosis, and Second:  ?did that potential relationship damage affect their ongoing treatment relationship.? You’ll never guess, but yes! If someone the patient knew and trusted told them a terrible diagnosis ...
Source: GruntDoc - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Medical Source Type: blogs