Exploring the experiences of healthcare professionals when breaking bad news in major trauma care
Intended for healthcare professionals

Emergency Nurse

Evidence and practice    

Exploring the experiences of healthcare professionals when breaking bad news in major trauma care

Angharad Griffiths Senior matron, South Wales Trauma Network, NHS Wales Swansea Bay University Health Board, Port Talbot, Wales
Edward Baker Consultant nurse emergency care, emergency department, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, England
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Twitter Share to Twitter More...

Why you should read this article:

  • • To enhance your knowledge of tools commonly used for breaking bad news to patients and families

  • • To read about the challenges of breaking bad news to patients and families in major trauma care

  • • To reflect on your own experiences of breaking bad news to patients and families

Breaking bad news is a challenging yet essential part of the role of healthcare professionals who care for major trauma patients and their families. This service evaluation investigated healthcare professionals’ attitudes and experiences regarding breaking bad news in the context of major trauma. Healthcare professionals were recruited from the South Wales Trauma Network and their views collected via an online survey based on the Breaking Bad News Attitudes Scale. The survey was completed by 149 healthcare professionals and the responses demonstrated a range of experiences of breaking bad news in major trauma care, with challenges such as the environment, building rapport and setting expectations.

Emergency Nurse. doi: 10.7748/en.2024.e2194

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

@edbaker_ed

Correspondence

edwardbaker@nhs.net

Conflict of interest

None declared

Griffiths A, Baker E (2024) Exploring the experiences of healthcare professionals when breaking bad news in major trauma care. Emergency Nurse. doi: 10.7748/en.2024.e2194

Published online: 08 May 2024

Keywords :

breaking bad news - clinical - communication - critical care - emergency care - high-dependency care - nurse-patient relations - professional - trauma - urgent care

Want to read more?

RCNi-Plus
Already have access? Log in

or

3-month trial offer for £5.25/month

Subscribe today and save 50% on your first three months
RCNi Plus users have full access to the following benefits:
  • Unlimited access to all 10 RCNi Journals
  • RCNi Learning featuring over 175 modules to easily earn CPD time
  • NMC-compliant RCNi Revalidation Portfolio to stay on track with your progress
  • Personalised newsletters tailored to your interests
  • A customisable dashboard with over 200 topics
Subscribe

Alternatively, you can purchase access to this article for the next seven days. Buy now

Are you a student? Our student subscription has content especially for you.
Find out more

Organisational access
Read this article via your institutional log in or pair token
Don’t have access via your organisation? Recommend to your librarian

30 April 2024 / Vol 32 issue 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DIGITAL EDITION

SUBSCRIBE

Journals