No one wants to be the bearer of bad news, especially to a patient that you have worked so hard to guide through treatment. Unfortunately, having these hard discussions is a part of working in oncology. In part 1 of this 3-part series, I discussed how the oncology care team can prepare for these conversations by preparing themselves and the patient at the beginning of treatment. In this installment, I will discuss the primary reasons healthcare providers don’t want to give a patient bad news, and how we can make our patients more comfortable.
Nurse navigators, patient navigators and other members of the oncology care team may feel uncomfortable having hard conversations due to:
