The Assessment of Knowledge and Attitudes of Nursing and Medical Students towards Breaking Bad News in the Medical Sciences Universities in Kerman Province

Breaking bad news in hospitals is a challenging task due to the lack of staff knowledge and skills. This study aimed to determine the knowledge and attitudes of medical and nursing intern students towards breaking bad news in medical universities of Kerman province.

This descriptive- analytical study was conducted on 269 medical and nursing intern students from three medical sciences universities in Kerman province in 2021. The data were collected using a demographic information questionnaire and a questionnaire to assess knowledge and attitudes about breaking bad news that designed by Monagheb and colleagues. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Significance level was considered less than 0.05.

The results of this study showed that the mean score of participant's knowledge and attitude about breaking bad news were 14.06 ± 2.3 and 24.03± 6.6 respectively. The mean score of participants' knowledge towards breaking bad news was in the range of average. The mean score of participants' attitude towards breaking bad news was in the range of negative attitude. The mean score of medical students' knowledge of breaking bad news was significantly higher than nursing students (p<001). The mean score of nursing students' attitude towards breaking bad news was positive and higher than medical students (p<0.001). In comparison between universities, knowledge and attitude were significantly different (p<0.05).

The results of this study showed that the knowledge of medical and nursing students about breaking bad news is not enough and more training is needed. Considering the more positive attitude of nursing students towards breaking bad news, it is suggested that arrangements be made to use this potential capacity to breaking bad news to patients and their families by training nursing students.