The strategic management of serious news.
The oncology clinic is a paradigm for a delivery system of serious news. Transfer of this information is a model for the delicacy in health care worker-patient interactions. There is an art as well as a science to accurately presenting devastating facts while mitigating potentially unnecessary emotional damage. Wide variability in clinic style, and the absence of specific attention in core curriculum and texts, argue for further interdisciplinary dialogue and teaching in this facet of medicine.
Goffman
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TE
Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, USUHS, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Dachowski
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L
D003142:Communication; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D016522:Oncology Service, Hospital; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D013997:Time Factors; D014342:Truth Disclosure