THE BEST WAY TO BREAK THE NEWS TO A PATIENT WHEN HE/SHE IS DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER.
The best way is to give the news face-to-face in a quite comfortable environment without any distraction, including no phone calls and pagers
Make the patient comfortable and show compassion, start by asking what is the patient’s understanding of the disease process and work up so far. Ask and show the patient if they want to see any of the imaging like a mammogram or CT scans done.
Look at the patient and give the news clearly and unequivocally
in simple language without difficult medical terms, and then pause so that the patient can process the information. Show empathy through supportive phrases and physical contact, like holding hands or touching shoulders. Make sure patient understand what you just told them.
Never leave the room after breaking the news. After the pause, give a simple explanation of the diagnosis and the prognosis. Be realistic, but always give hope (even if we cannot cure a cancer, we can treat to control it, or at least we can help the patient with symptoms if there is nothing we can do about a terminal cancer)
Quotes from: Dr. Adil Akhtar