Adult Medical Emergency Handbook - Scottish Intensive Care Society

• Acknowledge/empathise with distress and encourage the person
to talk about their feelings, e.g. “It sounds as if you feel .....”
• Help the person identify specific concerns resulting from the
information given, e.g. “Can I ask you what exactly worries you
about…?”
• Summarise and prioritise the person’s concerns.
• Take the person’s concerns in order of priority and give
appropriate information/advice.
• Give reassurance of ongoing support and agree a joint plan of
action.
At the end of the interview
• Summarise the conversation and offer to write down key
information.
• Offer relevant written information/booklets.
• Arrange a later opportunity to ask further questions or go over the
information again.
• Check if there is anything else they need now.
• Offer the patient/relative time alone if they wish.
After the interview
• Record details of: the information given
any resulting concerns/issues
follow-up arrangements
• Ensure that other key staff including the patient’s GP/consultant
are aware of what has been said.
GIVING DIFFICULT INFORMATION BY TELEPHONE
This should be avoided, if possible, but may be necessary
e.g. to inform relatives of a death.
In advance:
• Find out if the family want to be informed of changes in the
patient’s condition by phone.
• Do the family want to be contacted overnight or not?
• Is one family member to be contacted first?
Record these details clearly in the patient’s record with
contact numbers.
• If the death is “sudden and unexpected” it is always better if
the GP, emergency social work service or the police go and
break the news to relatives.
adult medical emergencies handbook | NHS LOTHIAN: UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS DIVISION | 2009/11
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