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
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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

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05 November 2024 / Vol 32 issue 6

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