As trainees in nephrology and general surgery navigating serious illness conversations,
we understood that our words carried lasting consequences. Although we intended to
choose our words carefully — using the mnemonics we had learned to deliver “bad news”
and rehearsing planned phrases — in practice, our conversations seldom went as smoothly
as we hoped. Instead, we might forget what to say next, or our statements might be
met with blank stares. Why did this happen? What could we do?
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 08, 2020
Footnotes
Potential Competing Interests: The authors report no competing interests.
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
