Breaking Barriers to Effective Communication of Bad News - Obstetric Outlook

Breaking a bad news is a difficult task that requires patience and refined communication skills, and must be approached with empathy towards patient and relatives. Patient centered communication technique is considered the best. A pregnant lady and her relatives at each antenatal visit need an assurance that ‘all is well’. On occasions the obstetrician may have a bad news to communicate shattering the hopes. The field of Obstetrics is also filled with many experiences that are sorrowful, which include failure to conceive after infertility treatment, miscarriage, ultrasound detected fetal anomaly, fetus with genetic problem, fetal and neonatal demise and birth injury

Keywords: Breaking bad news, empathetic communication, patient-centered communication technique.