Hola a tod@s, my dear friends.

Today I share with you an article published in 2006 in Medicina Intensiva, which although it might seem old 8 years later, is completely valid and for me it is also essential.

In “Breaking bad news in medicine: strategies that turn necessity into a virtue” by F. García Díaz, from Critical Care and Emergency Room Service of the Hospital General de la Defensa San Carlos, de San Fernando, San Fernando (Cádiz), we talk about one of the topics that could be more useful in ICU.

Breaking bad news is a part of our work every day, even though it has been a task relegated to the background and without an appropriate training. Probably, even is one of the tasks which more stress generated between professionals.

Our fellows oncologists have been who were most concerned about improving communication skills. Among them, the doctors Robert Buckman and Walter F. Baile, designed a protocol that bears his name in 2002 to communicate bad news.

This Protocol consists of 6 steps staggered and concatenated, widely developed in the article:

1. Preparation of the interview

2 Discovering what knows the patient

3 Recognizing how much wants the patient

4. Communicating the information to the patient

5. In response to reactions of the patient

6. Designing a treatment plan to follow.

Once again, the use of training in communication skills along with a holistic approach and formalized, it seems that it can improve our work and overall satisfaction in ICUs.

As the author concluded, let us to the task now!

Happy Wednesday,

Gabi

PS: one again, thanks to Elena (by sharing by Buckman).