The Way of Breaking Bad News by Nurses: A Report from Guilan Academic Hospitals

Breaking Bad News (BBN) is a multidisciplinary and unpleasant task, and nurses play a vital role in this process as they are often exposed to such situations. It is a critical duty that has not been adequately addressed.

This study investigated the performance of nurses in academic hospitals affiliated with Guilan University of Medical Sciences (GUMS) regarding BBN.

During 2020, eligible nurses were interviewed, and a questionnaire containing 16 items about environmental and psychical support was filled out. The first 10 questions evaluated psychical support, and the next six assessed environmental support. Each question scored 10, "never," to 50, "always."

A total of 384 out of 410 nurses filled out the questionnaires, and a response rate of 93.65% was obtained. As shown, 346 (90.1%) responders were women, and 38 (9.9%) were men. Also, 289 (75.3%) had passed educational courses. A positive association was observed between psychical and environmental support and age (P = 0.007, P = 0.003) and years of experience (P = 0.013, P = 0.004). However, there was no significant difference respecting educational programs (P > 0.05).

This study revealed that the current educational programs are not practical and could not induce a significant difference in nurses’ answers. Effective interventions to improve nurses’ communication skills are strongly warranted.