ID-5184 Wonca Abstracts supplement A-K 13-10-23 - Flipbook - Page 196
WONCA 2023 Supplement 1: WONCA 2023 abstracts (A–K)
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Knowledge, attitude and practice of physicians and
nurses in breaking bad news to cancer patients in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Dr Nitsuh Ephrem Kassaye
Addis Ababa University College of Health Sciences, Department of Family Medicine
Delivering bad news to patients is one of the most difficult tasks of healthcare professionals that
play a big role in the process of treatment and cooperation of patients. Although communication is
crucial for the treatment process, few studies have looked at communication in Ethiopian patient
care. Thus, research is needed to build baseline information regarding professionals’ knowledge,
attitude and practice of breaking bad news to support patient care. The objective of this study was
to assess knowledge, attitudes and practices of physicians and nurses in the delivery of bad news
(breaking bad news) to cancer patients. This cross-sectional study was conducted at Tikur Anbesa
Specialized Hospital between 1 May and 30 July 2021. A simple random sampling technique was
used. A pretested standardised self-administered questionnaire was utilised for data collection. Data
were entered in to Epidata software version 3.1, then imported into SPSS version 25.0 software for
analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the characteristics of study participants, and
the knowledge, attitude and practice of physicians and nurses were assessed. The findings of this
study suggest that 47.2% of total participants had good knowledge of breaking bad news and 72.2%
of the physicians and nurses had a favourable attitude towards it, whereas only 33% of participants
had a good practice. In this cross-hospital-based, cross-sectional study, most of the participants had
favourable attitudes, and most of the physicians and nurses had poor knowledge and poor practice
according to the SPIKES (Setting, Perception, Invitation, Knowledge, Explore, Strategy) protocol.
The SPIKES protocol is a common protocol used by healthcare professionals for breaking bad news
to patients.
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