The death of a close family member or friend is one of the most stressful events a person will experience. Although breaking bad news of a death to relatives/friends is a common occurrence in emergency departments, research has shown that health care professionals find the task difficult; because in most cases relatives/friends are generally unprepared for the death which is sudden, the patient may have been young, the death may be the result of trauma, the ED is a busy environment and in nearly all cases the doctor and relative/friend have no prior relationship.

This group is exploring factors that impact on breaking bad news in emergency departments from both the relatives/friends and health care professionals perspective in a phased programme of research.

Two of the team have recently been studying the breaking of bad news and staff training requirements.

Phase 1 - Survey of the care of the suddenly bereaved in UK Emergency Departments.  

In 1992, this group published a survey relating to the care of the bereaved in A&E Departments that subsequently resulted in the release of national guidelines (BMJ, 1992; 304: 1207-9). The topic has however received little attention since then. This survey has been sent to every emergency department in the UK. Results are expected to be available on this page in late summer.

COMMENCING

 February 2005

PROJECT TEAM

Dr Joanne Fisher, Mrs Heather Cooke, Dr. Matthew Cooke, The University of Warwick

Dr Brendan Lavery, A&E SpR, West Midlands Deanery

FUNDING

Under negotiation

PUBLICATIONS IN THIS AREA

Fisher, J. and M. Barnett. 2002. Communication with the dying and their loved ones. In Primary Palliative Care: dying, death and bereavement in the community, edited by Charlton, R. Vol. Chapter 3, Oxford: Radcliffe Medical Press.

Cooke MW, Cooke HM, Glucksman EE (1992) Management of sudden bereavement in the accident and emergency department. BMJ:304(6836):1207-9.

Barnett, MM., J. Fisher, A. Wild, H. Cooke, C. Irwin, and J. Dale. 2002. An audit of documentation of breaking bad news: can we tell who said what to whom? Clinician in Management 11, no. 4:181-4.

Cooke, H., and M. Barnett., Fisher, J. D., et al. (2003). Breaking Bad News Good Practice Recommendations – The Patient’s Voice. The Communication, Medicine & Ethics Conference, The University of Cardiff.

Fisher, J. D., M. Barnett, et al. (2002). How much training have hospital consultants undertaken for the task of breaking bad news? Association for the Study of Medical Education, The University of East Anglia, Norwich.