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Home GuidelinesGive
information at patient's pace |
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To give information at the patient's pace may mean that they will not receive all the information at the same time. However, they are more likely to accurately absorb the message if it is given in manageable chunks. You will know when the patient has heard enough because they will block any further disclosure, by changing the subject or asking a question about an earlier piece of information. They may ask you not to go on, giving reasons such as "I don't understand all this. You'd best talk to my daughter" or "All I'm interested in is how you are going to cure it". Only give the information to someone other than the patient if a) the patient's mental state is such that they could not understand or b) The patient requests that you give the information to a specific person, designated by them.
Possible questions include the following:
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Are you ready for us to have a discussion about the results
of your tests?
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We need to talk about your results. Is there anyone else you
would like to have with you?
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Do you want me to go over the test results now, and explain
exactly what I think is wrong?
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If the bad news is about diagnosis and treatment, there is generally
time to prepare in advance (see  Getting
started). However, bad news is not simply about diagnosis,
further questions from the patient may contain the propensity for
more bad news, for which you have had no time to prepare. In such
situations, if you do not know the answer, it is important to be honest
and offer to refer the question to someone more appropriate.
A patient is diagnosed with a potentially serious disease, but is not asking questions or appearing to be interested in her diagnosis. How would you:
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Assess the patient's current beliefs or knowledge of her illness?
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Decide on how much information to give the patient? |
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