How do you tell your pts. bad news?

[Tony.]

Im just curious,

you need to break it to someone that they have....say...glaucoma...(or some other irreversable eye disease)


how do you break that to them? how do you tell them?
Do you get any training in school as what to say? how to say it?

has anyone here been in that position? please share your stories if you can

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[Andrew_Doan]

Im just curious,

you need to break it to someone that they have....say...glaucoma...(or some other irreversable eye disease)


how do you break that to them? how do you tell them?
Do you get any training in school as what to say? how to say it?

has anyone here been in that position? please share your stories if you can

There's definitely an art to learning how to tell patients and their family bad news. Explaining how to do so is really beyond the scope of an internet forum.

We learn how to do this during medical school and by observing our attendings during internship and residency.

 

[mdkurt]

Im just curious,

you need to break it to someone that they have....say...glaucoma...(or some other irreversable eye disease)


how do you break that to them? how do you tell them?
Do you get any training in school as what to say? how to say it?

has anyone here been in that position? please share your stories if you can

I always put it in the form of a limerick.

 

[Jaded Soul]

I always put it in the form of a limerick.

LOL. Few things written on this board make me burst out with laughter, but that did for some reason.

 

[Tony.]

There's definitely an art to learning how to tell patients and their family bad news. Explaining how to do so is really beyond the scope of an internet forum.

We learn how to do this during medical school and by observing our attendings during internship and residency.

thank you.
When I worked last summer for an optometrist, he was very 'matter of fact' when he explained to his pts. their condition. He always made sure a family member was there with the patient for the bad news; i guess he did this b/c once the patient hears something is WRONG with them, they have trouble focusing on what treatment options are available....

I think you're right Dr. Doan, this is beyond the scope of an internet forum......I guess Im just looking forward to patient care at my school...thats all....

 

[Visioncam]

Some people hear the words "glaucoma" or "cataract" and react like they have a terminal illness. Before I started residency, I observed a lady being told she had a cataract and she started crying like she was told that she had a month to live. This is a rare reaction.

 

[Andrew_Doan]

Some people hear the words "glaucoma" or "cataract" and react like they have a terminal illness. Before I started residency, I observed a lady being told she had a cataract and she started crying like she was told that she had a month to live. This is a rare reaction.

You also have to wonder if there was an associated psychiatric illness when patients respond like that.

I was talking to a patient about his poor blood sugar controls with a HA1C of 13%. He had CSDME OU, and I recommended focal laser. He did not want treatment and was extremely argumentative, so I concentrated on why his blood sugars were high. He stated he stopped his diabetic medications because the CIA was controlling his blood sugars.

 

[GeddyLee]

You also have to wonder if there was an associated psychiatric illness when patients respond like that.

I was talking to a patient about his poor blood sugar controls with a HA1C of 13%. He had CSDME OU, and I recommended focal laser. He did not want treatment and was extremely argumentative, so I concentrated on why his blood sugars were high. He stated he stopped his diabetic medications because the CIA was controlling his blood sugars.

heh..

I saw a patient from a mental institution once, but I did not know he was from such a place. I asked him if anything was wrong with his vision, to which he responded he occasionally saw things that other people didn't see. Turns out he was there for retinopathy screening.