Truth Disclosure to Patients with Poor Prognosis: A Comparison of the Perspectives of Patients, Physicians and Nurses

Truth disclosure to patients is the cornerstone of medical ethics. However, perspectives are variable regarding telling the truth and disclosure of bad news to patients in different communities and cultures. Also, physicians, nurses, and patients have different perspectives in this respect. All these factors are responsible for the ongoing debate regarding the disclosure of truth to patients with poor prognosis.
This study aimed at assessing the perspectives of patients, physicians, and nurses regarding disclosure of disease status to patients with poor prognosis.
This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at Neyshabur University of Medical Sciences, during year 2016. A total of 215 participants, including 105 nurses, 30 physicians, and 80 patients were selected using stratified random sampling. A researcher-designed questionnaire comprised of 3 parts was used to collect the data. It contained 7 questions regarding demographic information, 17 questions regarding the perspective of the participant about telling the truth, and 10 questions on factors affecting the decision of physicians and nurses regarding disclosure of disease information to patients with poor prognosis. The data was analyzed using the SPSS version 20 software, with descriptive indexes and Pearson correlation, chi-square, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests; P of ≤ 0.05 was considered significant.
Generally, 100% of physicians, 94.3% of nurses, and 94.3% of patients agreed with the statement “patients have the right to know the truth about their disease”. All three groups believed that social and cultural factors are the most important parameters affecting the decision of physicians and nurses, which was statistically significant between the groups (P = 0.01).
Most participants believed that it is necessary to tell the truth to the patients. Thus, in treatment of patients with poor prognosis, the truth must be told to patients in an appropriate way while the medical team needs to acquire skills in this regard.