Thursday 30th July 2020 GatewayC and the Maguire Communication Skills Training Unit have partnered to produce this resource below. Missed our free webinar on Effective Telephone Consultations? Watch it here. We’ve all experienced the “doorknob disclosure” when the...
Thursday 23rd July 2020 Treatment for pelvic cancers can cause numerous gastrointestinal symptoms. Many patients will experience altered bowel function or other late effects, and often find them extremely concerning, as the symptoms experienced can mirror some of...
Thursday 23rd July 2020 Treatment for pelvic cancers can cause numerous gastrointestinal symptoms. Many patients will experience altered bowel function or other late effects, and often find them extremely concerning, as the symptoms experienced can mirror some of...
Friday 17th July 2020 It is essential to monitor a neck lump closely, measuring and remarking if it is hard, mobile or fixed. It is also important to record the number of nodes found, if they are changing over a period of time, and refer the patient urgently if there...
Thursday 7th May 2020
Discussing suspected cancer symptoms over the phone can be challenging. To navigate this, we have created a downloadable PDF resource for primary care teams, in partnership with The Maguire Communication Skills Training Unit. This resource covers five important principles:
1. Eliciting the patient’s perception is key
If a patient is already worried that their symptoms might indicate something serious, it will allow you to gently acknowledge and confirm that their symptoms are cause for concern and will need to be investigated further. This is much easier for the patient to manage than if the information is introduced cold.
Because there are no visual cues on the phone this makes listening for verbal cues doubly important. Listen for tone of voice, sighs, silence, words or phrases that suggest a difficult emotion, worry or concern.
2. Warning shots
Prefaced with words such as “unfortunately”, “sadly”, “I’m afraid” followed by a pause will help people to prepare for the information/bad news whether or not they suspect.
3. Deliver the news with compassion and honesty
Bad news is bad news and people will be upset. However your kindness and compassion can make a huge difference to how they cope. Pause frequently to allow information to be absorbed.
4. Empathise
Verbally acknowledging people’s feelings and worries helps to reduce their distress and anxiety. This is showing a high level of compassion.
5. Acknowledge and clarify questions
Once you have acknowledged the new emotions, find out the fears and worries before providing reassurance or further information.
Further information and next steps can be discussed when the person has had opportunity to voice their concerns and questions.
Find out more: