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'Bad news' guidelines needed
Written by Danielle Barron Monday, 12 October 2009 11:43
Current practice and training regarding breaking bad news to cancer patients cannot be regarded as evidence-based until further research is completed, a review of current research on the subject has shown.
According to the research, in press for the European Journal of Cancer, the way clinicians break bad news to cancer patients has been retrospectively associated with poor psychosocial outcomes for patients.
“Education and practice in breaking bad news may be ineffective for improving patients’ well-being unless it is informed by a sound evidence base,” the researchers from Newcastle University, Australia, wrote.
The researchers set out to examine the progress of the evidence base in breaking bad news to cancer patients by reviewing publications on the topic published between January 1995 and March 2009.
“The review revealed that an extremely small proportion (1.6 per cent) of the published studies in the field of breaking bad news involved studies which provided an evidence base for practice.
“Rigorous intervention studies which evaluate strategies for improving psychosocial outcomes in relation to breaking bad news to cancer patients are needed,” the study concludes.
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