WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

*Israa Faeq Abdulhameed, Sahar A. Esa Al Shatari and Rasha Yasir Jasim

ABSTRACT

Background: Technical and scientific skills usually trump communication in medical school. This may have caused doctors' incompetence, avoidance of patient conversation, and treatment without concern for patients' feelings. Despite established protocols for giving terrible news, clinicians are often untrained or unskilled. Study goal: To evaluate physicians' knowledge, attitude, and behavior with conveying bad news in Medical City teaching hospitals in Iraq and determine if demographic characteristics are associated. Method: A six-month cross-sectional analytic investigation was done on 201 medical city hospital doctors. The research includes all doctors, regardless of age, sex, or job position, except those without patient interaction. Doctor demographics were collected using an SPIKES-formatted questionnaire. The data was analysed using SPSS 25. The chi-square test was used for statistical analysis. A p-value <0.05 indicates statistical significance. Results: In 201 respondents, 65.2% were female, 34.8% were male, 83.6% were board residents, and 80.6% of 30–39-year-olds didn't know about SPIKES protocol components. Only 41.3% of participants had received training in conveying bad news, and 95% said they needed more. (46.8%) had negative experiences with patients following terrible news. Participant sex significantly affected total practice. Conclusion: Despite not knowing about SPIKES procedure or other protocols for conveying terrible news, most participants had strong knowledge, optimistic attitude, and good practice.

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