TY - JOUR AU - Payán, Enna Catalina AU - Montoya, David Andrés AU - Vargas, John Jairo AU - Vélez, María Clara AU - Castaño, Alfonso AU - Krikorian, Alicia PY - 2009/12/02 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Barriers and facilitating communication skills for breaking bad news: from the specialists’ practice perspective JF - Colombia Medica JA - Colomb Med VL - 40 IS - 2 SE - Original Articles DO - 10.25100/cm.v40i2.638 UR - https://colombiamedica.univalle.edu.co/index.php/comedica/article/view/638 SP - 158-166 AB - <strong><span style="font-weight:bold;">Introduction:</span> </strong>Breaking bad news is one of a physician’s most difficult duties. There are several studies related to the patient’s needs, but few reflect on the doctors’ experience. <br /> <strong><span style="font-weight: bold; ">Materials and method:</span> </strong>A descriptive, cross-sectional research was carried out to study issues related to the process of delivering bad news which might act as barriers and facilitating skills from the doctor’s point of view. These issues were identified through a self-administered survey.<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold; "> <strong>Results:</strong></span> Participant doctors use different strategies to communicate bad news to their patients. Examples of these strategies are: to be familiar with the patients’ medical history, to ensure that there is enough time, to know the patient’s caregivers and/or relatives, to determine the patient’s level of knowledge about his/her condition, to use non-technical words, to give information in small pieces, to assess the patient’s understanding, to devise a joint action plan, among others. <br /> <strong><span style="font-weight: bold;">Conclusion:</span></strong> The communication barriers that were identified focused on the emotional issues of the communication process, particularly those related to the recognition of own emotions, and the limited training about communication strategies available to doctors. Consequently, there is a need to implement training programs that provide doctors with tools to facilitate the bad news communication process. ER -