Do Nurses have to give Bad News and How?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hello to all,

I am a nursing student and have a question about giving "Bad News". I am always a straight forward person, but have an issue when it comes to giving bad news to patients or family's. I know in nursing you have to have "Thick Skin" and I do, but telling someone that there child is going to pass away is hard to me. The question is to nurses really have to give Bad News or is that placed on the licence physician? From what I am told is that is not in the scope of a nurse to tell a patient or family certain things (ex. You have cancer, your wife didn't survive her injuries, your child is not expected to live, ect).. If you have some examples of bad news you have given, and how you did it I would greatly appreciate it.

from reading some of the posts here it sounds an awful lot like nurses are giving prognosis/diagnosis. that is dangerous ground; its beyond nurse scope ofpractice. and for a less experienced nurse they may be overwhelmed with a barrage of questions from famly members that the nurse may not be equipped to answer. then the doc/resident has to walk into a minefield situation..

maybe im to traditional but i think it is absolutely up to the MD to give terminal especially diagnoses and prognoses.

i know nurses are better prognoticators than md's but i dont think it should fall on our sholders. dont flame me its just my opinion.

besides you as nruse most likely have many other patients ringin call bells and the like. now what? to have that convo takes much time and finesse. i often dont have that kindo f time on the floor. we need to get the docs more involved. there is always one in house wake em up in the middle of the night@ they need more practice at this then we do if they are newbie docs right?

Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.

I give bad news all the time. I may not be telling a cancer pt they have cancer, but I will be the one telling them "Your labs dropped again, so you will need transfused, can't go home today, etc." I also have to be the one to often explain what a chronic or terminal diagnosis means to the pt and/or family.

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I've been working in nursing homes for five years. Most people know that the nursing home is often the final place of residence for many people before they pass away. Some of my coworkers call this phenomenon 'check-out time.'

On numerous occasions I've had to call family members and notify them that their loved one has died. It never gets easy, but I'm reassured by the thought that the elderly deceased person has moved on to a better place.

Sometimes life can be cruel when you're 98 years of age with a feeding tube, a peripheral IV, multiple lab draws that require multiple sticking and poking each time because your veins are so bad, pureed meals, urination and defecation in diapers, a debilitated body, chronic pain, and so forth. If I ever reach old age, I want minimal intervention. Just give me my pain medicine and let me go.

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