Critical Care Nurses’ Attitudes, Roles, and Barriers Regarding Breaking Bad News

Abstract

This study examines critical care nurses’ attitudes, roles, experience, education, and barriers regarding breaking the bad news. A descriptive, cross-sectional design was used in this study. A convenience sample of 210 critical care nurses completed the study. Most of the critical care nurses contributed to breaking bad news and they were involved in different roles in this process and they had a positive attitude regarding breaking bad news. In this study, (75.2%) of the participants reported that they did not receive any specific training regarding breaking bad news. In addition, nurses face various barriers when breaking bad news. Critical care nurses’ involvement in breaking bad news should be encouraged. Most barriers to BBN were negatively associated with nurses’ roles, attitudes, and experiences during BBN. Administrators should promote the involvement of critical care nurses in breaking bad news and strengthen them through addressing the challenges they face in the process of BBN.