ArticleHealth expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy2021
A scoping review of practice recommendations for clinicians' communication of uncertainty.
Article in Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Improving communication of prognostic uncertainty in advanced illness: a realist review.BMJ open · 2026Pooled it
- To what extent should doctors communicate diagnostic uncertainty with their patients? An empirical ethics vignette study.Journal of medical ethics · 2025Trial
- A randomized experimental study to test the effects of discussing uncertainty during cancer genetic counseling: different strategies, different outcomes?European journal of human genetics : EJHG · 2021Trial
- Early treatment goal uncertainty as a barrier to regional analgesia and respiratory deterioration in traumatic rib fractures: a propensity-weighted analysis.European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society · 2026Observational
- What Should We Aim for when Addressing Uncertainty from Serious Illness? A Stakeholder Focus Group Study.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Clinician Communication About Uncertainty During Parkinson Disease Diagnostic Consultations.Neurology. Clinical practice · 2026Article
- Communication when bone and joint infection in children is suspected : a qualitative study of patients, families, and health professionals.Bone & joint open · 2026Article
- Designing a SPIKES-based protocol for communicating uncertainty in indeterminate thyroid cytology: a mixed-method analysis within a pilot study.Updates in surgery · 2026Article
- Clinicians' tolerance for uncertainty and communication about uncertainty with older adults -a standardized patient assessment study.BMC geriatrics · 2025Observational
- Ambiguities faced by parents who received a genetic diagnosis for autistic offspring with intellectual disabilities.Journal of community genetics · 2025Article
- Bearing the Burdens of Medical Uncertainty.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2025Article
- Why Forensic Pathologists Maintain Uncertainty in Reporting Causes of Death: How Communicative Uncertainty Devices Shape Reasoning.Sociology of health & illness · 2025Article
- Communicating prognostic uncertainties in advanced multimorbidity: a multimethod qualitative study to co-design practice recommendations.European geriatric medicine · 2025Article
- Twelve Tips to Train Medical Students to Manage Their Uncertainty and to Provide Reassurance to Patients and Their Caregivers.Medical science educator · 2025Article
- Uncertainties in the NICU: a scoping review to inform a tailored taxonomy.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2025Article
- Disentangling trust of patients with rare cancer in their healthcare professionals and the healthcare system: a qualitative interview study.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2025Article
- An Observational Study of Dialogue about Uncertainty in Clinician-Family Counseling Conversations Following Prenatal Diagnosis of Complex Congenital Heart Disease.PEC innovation · 2024Article
- Written communication of whole genome sequencing results in the NHS Genomic Medicine Service: a multi-centre service evaluation.European journal of human genetics : EJHG · 2024Article
- Uncertainty and Communication Preferences Among Patients Undergoing Lung Transplant Evaluation: A Mixed-Methods Study.Clinical transplantation · 2024Article
- How and why do doctors communicate diagnostic uncertainty: An experimental vignette study.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHealth-care providers increasingly have to discuss uncertainty with patients. Awareness of uncertainty can affect patients variably, depending on how it is communicated. To date, no overview existed for health-care professionals on how to discuss uncertainty.
objectiveTo generate an overview of available recommendations on how to communicate uncertainty with patients during clinical encounters. SEARCH STRATEGY: A scoping review was conducted. Four databases were searched following the PRISMA-ScR statement. Independent screening by two researchers was performed of titles and abstracts, and subsequently full texts. INCLUSION CRITERIA: Any (non-)empirical papers were included describing recommendations for any health-care provider on how to orally communicate uncertainty to patients. DATA EXTRACTION: Data on provided recommendations and their characteristics (eg, target group and strength of evidence base) were extracted. Recommendations were narratively synthesized into a comprehensible overview for clinical practice.
resultsForty-seven publications were included. Recommendations were based on empirical findings in 23 publications. After narrative synthesis, 13 recommendations emerged pertaining to three overarching goals: (a) preparing for the discussion of uncertainty, (b) informing patients about uncertainty and (c) helping patients deal with uncertainty. DISCUSSION AND
conclusionsA variety of recommendations on how to orally communicate uncertainty are available, but most lack an evidence base. More substantial research is needed to assess the effects of the suggested communicative approaches. Until then, health-care providers may use our overview of communication strategies as a toolbox to optimize communication about uncertainty with patients. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: Results were presented to stakeholders (physicians) to check and improve their practical applicability.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.