Communication of Bad News

Abstract

Delivering bad news is a critical part of the patient-physician relationship. Historically, physicians have withheld or incompletely related the diagnosis and prognosis of a patient’s disease. However, the trajectory of medical practice and patient expectations mandates a change in communicating bad news. Poor communication of bad news also affects physician job satisfaction and increases burnout. Empathy is crucial to communicating bad news well. It is a very complex emotion that requires the physician to identify the patient’s reaction to the news being delivered and to react to the patient in a supportive manner. Patients do not find it helpful when the physician underplays the bad part of the news. Emerging research shows that patients prefer pairing of bad news with hope to provide anchors in the overwhelming conversation but not to take away from the gravity of the news. Family and friends can help ameliorate or, unfortunately, augment patient anxiety. Physicians have to be cognizant of the dynamics family and friends bring to the interaction as well. A patient-centered approach—a combination of evidence-based medicine and patient goal-oriented medicine—to delivering bad news is most likely to benefit the patient-physician relationship and decision-making process. The SPIKES and the Expanded Four Habits Model can be used as guidelines for communicating bad news. This review contains 1 figure and 38 references. Key words: communicating bad news, empathy, Expanded Four Habits Model, patient-centered care, SPIKES