Abstract
India has a distinct pattern of cancer care delivery, with unique sociocultural milieu and patient characteristics. In the current era of patient-centered and personalized care, there is an unmet need for an abbreviated protocol for breaking bad news to cancer patients suitable for the Indian outpatient setting. We propose a short four-step protocol for breaking bad news effectively and caringly, in the outpatient department of oncology clinics.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Data availability
Not applicable.
References
GLOBOCAN 2018. Available at http://gco.iarc.fr/today/data/factsheets/populations/356-india-fact-sheets.pdf. Last accessed 28th November 2019
Sengar M, Fundytus A, Hopman WM, Malhotra H, Gupta S, Pramesh CS, Hammad N, Sullivan R, Vanderpuye V, Seruga B, Lopes G, Brundage MD, Booth CM (2019) Medical oncology in India: workload, infrastructure, and delivery of care. Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol 40:121–127
Times of India. Cancer cases rise by over 300% in 1 year. Available at https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/cancer-cases-rise-by-over-300-in-1-year/articleshow/71872746.cms. Last accessed 26th November 2019
The Hindu Business Line. Big C may affect 70m Indians by 2021. Available at https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/variety/big-c-may-affect-70m-indians-by-2021/article9527233.ece#. Last accessed 26th November 2019
Chaturvedi SK, Loiselle CG, Chandra PS (2009) Communication with relatives and collusion in palliative care: a cross-cultural perspective. Indian J Palliat Care 15:2–9
Ghoshal A, Salins N, Damani A, Chowdhury J, Chitre A, Muckaden MA, Deodhar J, Badwe R (2019) To tell or not to tell: exploring the preferences and attitudes of patients and family caregivers on disclosure of a cancer-related diagnosis and prognosis. J Glob Oncol 5:1–12
Patel A, Deo S, Bhatnagar S (2019) A survey of medical professionals in an apex tertiary care hospital to assess awareness, interest, practices, and knowledge in palliative care: a descriptive cross-sectional study. Indian J Palliat Care 25:172–180
VandeKieft GK (2001) Breaking bad news. Am Fam Physician 64(12):1975–1978
Stewart MA (1995) Effective physician-patient communication and health outcomes: a review. Can Med Assoc J 152(9):1423–1433
Ptacek JT, Eberhardt TL (1996) Breaking bad news. A review of the literature. JAMA. 276(6):496–502
Baile WF, Buckman R, Lenzi R, Glober G, Beale EA, Kudelka AP (2000) SPIKES-a six-step protocol for delivering bad news: application to the patient with cancer. Oncologist. 5(4):302–311
Khosla D, Patel FD, Sharma SC (2012) Palliative care in India: current progress and future needs. Indian J Palliat Care 18(3):149–154
Rajpal S, Kumar A, Joe W (2018) Economic burden of cancer in India: evidence from cross-sectional nationally representative household survey, 2014. PLoS One 13(2):e0193320
Narayanan V, Bista B, Koshy C (2010) ‘BREAKS’ protocol for breaking bad news. Indian J Palliat Care 16(2):61–65. https://doi.org/10.4103/0973-1075.68401
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
SM—concept, first and final draft
SRR—concept, final draft
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
This manuscript has been read and approved by all the authors, the requirements for authorship have been met. We believe that the manuscript represents honest work and this information is not provided in another form.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethics approval
Not applicable.
Consent for publication
Not applicable.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mailankody, S., Rao, S.R. “PENS” approach for breaking bad news—a short and sweet way!. Support Care Cancer 29, 1157–1159 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05807-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05807-0