Human life is precious to an individual and those that he or she relates with. However, the comfort of life may be threatened by disease and illness. It gets worse when it is a case of a chronic illness with fewer chances of getting well or surviving. Doctors, nurses, and other medical practitioners have a duty of doing everything they can to safeguard life even in the times of illness. However, at times a disease gets beyond treatment, and the risk of losing a life is very high. Doctors may realize this in time and may, therefore, require sharing the information with the patient and the kins of the patient. The topic of death in a medical context is particularly very sensitive, not only to the ones receiving the news but also to the one telling the message unlike in a legal framework where a judge may not feel as bad when sentencing a convict to death as deputies whisk the convict away from the courtroom.
However, it should not be as tough to the doctor since some ways and strategies can be applied in communicating the problematic message. Such criteria include the CLASS protocol, CLASS is an acronym for Context (C), Listening (L), Acknowledging and Addressing Emotions (A), Strategy (S) and Summary (S) (Buckman).
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The doctor or the professional identifies a context where he or she can interact with the patient and/ or the kins. This context could be at a time when everyone is calm and with less pressure. The doctor may also create this context. The doctor may develop a general conversation with the recipient (s) of the information including discussing the weather or the public well- being of the patient or the politics of the health system. He may also begin by giving a history about the facility perhaps outlining the many critical cases they have successfully dealt with ( Alyssa Fine MS, Katherine Brown-Saltzman MA, & Patricia, 2015) . The doctor then starts to bring in the topic about the patient's illness slowly and secures a platform where he only listens to grasp information about the hopes, and expectations, as well as the role of the patient or the kins.
From the listening session, the doctor is also able to identify any emotions from the respondent. The doctor or nurse should identify with these emotions by acknowledging them and may reassure the respondent that it is okay to have such feelings maybe with a statement of “it’s okay, I understand how you feel” ( Leiter, 2017). The doctor may narrate a personal experience of the same situation and even assert to have the same feelings.
During this moment, the doctor should be figuring out a way to break the news to the respondent. The choice of strategy should be appropriate with the emotions s/he has become knowledgeable of. He could break the story by first narrating a similar case to that of the patient in question though in a light manner before indicating that the patient could suffer the same fate. S/he may show compassion to the respondent by letting them know that it happens and the doctors have done everything possible and are still willing to do everything they can, even if they are out of options. The news should be released in the most courteous manner possible ( Tyler, 2018) . After breaking the news, the doctor should further take responsibility of any emotions that may come up as a reaction to the news and show compassion but should be very careful not to give any false hopes.
To sum this up, an example could serve the lecture better. In a situation where a patient is brought to a facility from an accident where s/he sustained severe internal injuries may be in the head, and the brain is damaged, and the patient risks losing their life, the doctor may apply this formula. He may not talk with the patient since the patient could be in a situation where they cannot respond or comprehend anything. The doctor may notice the most frequent visitor for the patient and get into a conversation with them. He may inquire about how the accident happened. During this time, he may be listening keenly to notice any emotions. If any emotions occur, he should acknowledge them fully. The doctor may narrate an experience about an accident or the many accident cases he may have dealt with in his career, in an attempt to calm the high emotions. He may then proceed to disclose the prognosis of the patient in question.
References
Alyssa Fine MS, R. N., Katherine Brown-Saltzman MA, R. N., & Patricia Jakel, M. N. (2015). A culture of avoidance: voices from inside ethically tricky clinical situations. Clinical journal of oncology nursing , 19 (2), 159.
Leiter, R. (2017). Conversations on Dying: A Palliative-Care Pioneer Faces His Death. Journal of Palliative Medicine , 20 (6), 687-687.
Robert A. Buckman, Interpersonal Communication And Relationship Enhancement (I*CARE) Basic Principles – Introduction, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Tyler, D. (2018). Leading the “Critical Conversation”: Surgeon Leadership in HR. In Surgical Mentorship and Leadership (pp. 247-252). Springer, Cham.
