ArticlePorto biomedical journal
Family physicians' opinions on and difficulties with breaking bad news.
Article in Porto biomedical journal. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Breaking bad news: A mix methods study reporting the need for improving communication skills among doctors in Pakistan.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Health professionals' views and experiences of breaking bad news in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: a scoping review.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
- Neurologists' lived experiences of communicating the diagnosis of a motor neurodegenerative condition: an interpretative phenomenological analysis.BMC neurology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
21 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
highlightsBreaking bad news is still deemed a difficult task by family physicians.Family physicians feel they need training in breaking bad news.The family physicians' attitude to this issue is different from what they would wish if they themselves had a life-threatening disease.
backgroundFamily practice is the specialty with the highest number of doctors and covers all of Portugal. Therefore, the attitude of these doctors may have a high impact on patients.
objectiveTo explore the opinion and difficulties of Portuguese family doctors on dealing with communication with patients with life threatening diseases.
methodsA questionnaire was sent to about 10% of family doctors of Northern Portugal. The questionnaire included questions about the disclosure of information, if they feel they need training courses and what they would want if they had a life-threatening disease.
resultsA questionnaire was given to 196 doctors and 159 (81%) participated in this study. The median age was 43 years (26-64) and 108 (68%) were females. One hundred thirty-five (85%) consider that breaking bad news is a difficult task. One hundred twenty-four (78%) feel they need training in breaking bad news. For many doctors, the disclosure of diagnoses and prognoses has a detrimental psychological effect and affects patients' hope, but gives patients' control of the situation. Given a situation where the doctors themselves had a life-threatening disease, the vast majority would want to know the diagnosis and the prognosis and to participate in treatment decisions.
conclusionsBreaking bad news is still a difficult task. Their attitude to this duty is different from what they would wish if they themselves had a life-threatening disease. One important conclusion is the need of specific training in communication for family physicians that should begin in the training phase of their specialty.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.