Principles and Techniques of Veterinary and AH Extension

DELIVERING BAD NEWS

• Some times veterinarians are compelled to deliver bad news to the clients. News that can be considered bad is usually loss and grief related: diagnosing a chronic or terminal illness, informing clients about their animals sudden or unexpected death or relating information about disease recurrence or treatment failure.
• Breaking bad news may confirm pre-existing suspicions for frightened or worried clients, therefore both delivering and receiving bad news can trigger feelings of guilt and anxiety and can be unsettling both for clients and veterinarians.
• Veterinary medicine has four general categories of bad news. They are
  • Unexpected death.
  • Diagnosis.
  • Treatment ups and downs.
  • Telling clients that it is time to decide about euthanasia.
• No strategies or methods exist to allow vets to break bad news painlessly. They should prepare themselves to deal with shock, anger, sadness and even hysteria because the easy in which clients react to bad news is largely unpredictable.
• The delivery of a diagnosis works better when you explain test results, radiographs and prognosis in a soft voice with your words spoken a bit more slowly than usual. Well–planned diagnosis presentations greatly increase client's understanding of disease and its treatment.
• If veterinarian fail to win client trust during the delivery of bad news, effective case management is jeopardized. Therefore, time should be invested in education and reassuring clients during the crucial time.
• Three methods of approach can be used when delivering bad news.
  • Blunt and unfeeling way.
  • Kind and sad way.
  • Understanding and positive way.
• The last is probably the preferred way. To convey bad news with an understanding and positive attitude, you should deliver the message in stages because it takes time for clients to fully realize the magnitude of what they leave been told.
• Likewise the veterinarian should educate the clients that euthanasia has to be done only to terminate the suffering of animals who have been severely injured or who are dying form disease or illness. He should explain the procedure and field questions.
• The clients will appreciate if you offer small kindness towards them before, during and after the animal loss. These small gestures are often what clients remember the most.
• Veterinarian should
  • Explain the euthanasia procedure.
  • Structure and guide the euthanasia procedure.
  • Escort the clients way from the site.
  • Make follow up phone calls.
• At the same time many small insensitivities you can avoid before, during and after euthanasia. Unfortunately these small mistake are often enough to nullify the overall positive effects. Because they are images and experiences that client remembers.