Tell me about a time you had to communicate bad news to a patient. How did you effectively communicate that news and what was the outcome?

"As a pediatric nurse early in my career, my physician received lab results from a young patient found to have a brain tumor. When the patient and family were called in for their consult, the physician and I were both in the room when the news was delivered. In that situation, it is hard not to break down with the family in tears but I knew that they were looking at me to be the person with strength and have answers to their questions. The physician and I were able to walk them through their next steps and options moving forward with their child's diagnosis and they truly appreciated that."

"During my time in clinical rotations on a Med/Surg unit, I had been working with a patient throughout the day that was planning to be released back home by 4:00 pm that afternoon. As my day shift was ending, the physician notified us that due to the fact the patient's blood pressure hadn't dropped to an acceptable level, he would have to stay another night for observation. When I was in the room with my preceptor, she gave the news to the patient calmly and explained the reason why it was necessary. While certainly excited to be sent home, he fully understood the reasoning why and took the news well due to her simple delivery of the message."

"As an urgent care nurse, I saw patients with varying degrees of sicknesses and illnesses. One weekend, a young boy came in with a foot injury from playing in a hockey tournament earlier that day. After the doctor examined him, he was sent to the lab for X-rays. In talking with the boy and his father, they were in town for a hockey tournament and his team had just reached the championship game which was to be played the next day. The boy was so excited and hopeful that he would have just a bruised foot and be able to play. Once the tests came back, it was revealed that he had fractured the outer metatarsal on his foot. I delivered the news to the boy that he had fractured his foot and that he would need to leave our clinic in a walking boot and not play the next day. He was devastated. I explained to him that playing further could damage his foot further down the road and by taking the time to explain why he had to take the course of action he did, but the boy and his father were grateful."

"A few weeks ago, a patient came into our family practice clinic for a suspected eye infection, and unfortunately, upon examining her eye, the physician I work with found that it was not an infection but rather, it was inflammation of the eye, which could have been caused by an autoimmune disease. The patient was very upset by this, but the doctor told her not to worry until initial blood panels came back and we knew if the patient needed to see a rheumatologist for further testing. However, when the test results came back, it showed that the patient likely had Rheumatoid Arthritis, and she needed further testing by a rheumatologist to confirm. I had to call the patient to break this news to her, and she became very upset when I did so. Since the patient was scared and upset, I stayed on the phone with her, comforted her, and answered any questions that I could, and before the end of the phone call, she was calm and collected and told me she felt much better."

"I once had a patient in the clinic to have their implantable cardio-defibrillator checked. When completing the testing, I could tell that something was wrong when interpreting the data. I notified the physician immediately who ordered a stat chest x-ray to check the placement of the lead within the heart. I then sat with the patient and explained clearly the results I found when testing her cardiac device and that there was a concern with one of the leads. I informed her to ensure the placement of the lead and determine if any other more invasive intervention needed to be done we would need to have her complete a chest x-ray. I then walked with her to the x-ray and then brought her back to the office to review with the provider. Unfortunately, the lead had moved and required surgery to reposition it. The patient later told me she was very grateful for me sitting with her initially upon interpreting the data and explaining it in a manner she could understand. She appreciated knowing clearly what was going on and why a chest x-ray was needed as well as what the potential outcomes from the x-ray could be. She said she felt she had a better understanding going into the additional imaging which provided her with comfort because she already knew what could potentially be the outcome and long-term plan."

Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.