title: Communication with dying patients in coronary care units.
abstract: There now seems to be a much greater willingness among hospital staff to disclose a terminal prognosis to a patient. The paper starts with a review of the changing attitudes towards disclosure and then considers communication with dying patients in Coronary Care Units. After considering general factors influencing nurse communication with dying patients sources of difficulty in such communication are considered. Characteristics of patients and relatives, of nurses, and features of the work environment may all contribute to communicational difficulties. The paper closes with a brief overview of basic communicative requirements.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Field
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000451:nursing*; D003142:Communication; D003325:Coronary Care Units; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D013727:Terminal Care; D014342:Truth Disclosure