Nurses’ experiences towards breaking bad news : An integrative review

The event of breaking bad news is a subject that no one present in the practical setting could choose to avoid. It is a subject that the practitioners comes in touch with during a daily basis. Traditionally the role as the breaker of bad news has been settled by the physician, but at the time being, disagreements occur in the clinical setting about who should break bad news to familys and patients. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the nurses’ experiences of breaking bad news. What are the nurses’ role in the event of breaking bad news, and are there any barriers that can affect the way the bad news is given to the patients and family members? These were two questions of issue that were looked into. Method: The integrative review method based out of Whittemore and Knafl (2005) was used for this review. A systematic search resulted in twelve articles that were deemed fitting for the purpose of this study. Results: This integrative review resulted in five identified roles carried out by the nurse in the event of breaking bad news. Further on, nine factors were identified as being of significance in how the bad news were delivered by nurses and received by patients and the patient’s family members. Nurses expressed a desire and a wish for some kind of education or training in how to break bad news. Conclusion: This article contributes with five roles experienced by nurses, along with nine different factors to have in mind when carrying out difficult news. The SPIKE model and Gibbs reflective model were discussed to have a great importance in the clinical setting.