title: Role, perspective and knowledge of Iranian critical care nurses about breaking bad news.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Given the issue of caring critically ill patients, nurses are involved in the process of breaking bad news in critical care units, while little research has been conducted on this challenging issue.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to determine the role, perspective and knowledge of Iranian critical care nurses regarding breaking bad news.
  
  
  METHODS
  This descriptive study was conducted on a sample of 160 nurses working in critical care units of hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Stratified and quota sampling methods were used. The data collection tool was a four-part questionnaire with validity and reliability confirmed via content validity and test-retest, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study showed that most critical care nurses were involved in breaking bad news, with different roles. The majority of participants (91.2%) had a positive attitude towards involvement of nurses in breaking bad news. In this study, 78.8% of nurses had moderate knowledge about how to break bad news, and only a few had good level of knowledge (16.2%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  According to the findings, while critical care nurses took different roles in the process of breaking bad news and they had positive attitude towards participation in this process, yet their knowledge about this process was inadequate. Thus, designing educational programmes to enhance critical care nurses' knowledge and skills in this area seems necessary.
authors.affiliation: Nursing and Midwifery Care Research Center of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (NMCRC), Department of Critical Care Nursing, School of Nursing & Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Post Box 6459, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: m_imanipour@tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Masoomeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Imanipour
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing & Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Karim
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistic, Shahid Sattary University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Naser
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bahrani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D064648:Critical Care Nursing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D024802:Nurse's Role; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014342:Truth Disclosure
keywords: Attitude/perspective; Bad news; Critical/intensive care; Knowledge; Nurse