Sharing Serious News With Cancer Patients: Strategies That Can Help.

Overview

Sharing serious news is a key communication task that occurs frequently throughout the trajectory of caring for a cancer patient. When sharing serious news, it is important to consider many factors, including those related to patient diversity, such as cultural and family background; language barriers; socioeconomic factors; and health literacy. Importantly, the way in which serious news is discussed significantly affects many outcomes and aspects of patient care. Sharing serious news is not an innate skill but can be effectively taught and learned.