Introduction
In a healthcare setting, communication is essential for every aspect of care. The ability to break bad news to
patients and families is one of the most crucial talents in a medical professional's communication toolkit.
This study aims to investigate the factors affecting the family’s acceptance of death news in Palestinian
medical facilities.
Methods
A survey was constructed and distributed to participants through Palestinian medical social media groups.
Palestinian medical health professionals who had reported at least one death (N=136) were included.
Associations and correlations were calculated. P-values of < 0.05 were considered significant.
Results
We found that death is more likely to be accepted by the family if it’s reported by an experienced staff
member (p-value= 0.031) or a member who was involved in the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) of the
deceased person (Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 19.335, p-value = 0.046). The medical ward staff is also more
likely to achieve family acceptance (AOR = 6.857, p-value= 0.020). However, no evidence was found to
support the claim that adhering to the SPIKES model increases the likelihood of family acceptance of death
news (p-value= 0.102). Death of young people and unexpected death are less likely to be accepted (p-value <
0.05).
Conclusion
Families are less likely to accept unexpected death or the death of young members. Thus, reporting such
deaths (mostly in the emergency department) should be done with greater care. We suggest letting
experienced staff members or those who were involved in CPR report the death news in such situations.

Title

Cureus

Publisher

Springer

Publisher Country

United States of America

Indexing

Thomson Reuters

Impact Factor

1.2

Publication Type

Online only

Volume

15

Year

2023

Pages

1-15