Truth Telling in Cancer Care- Should it always be told?

Truth telling in cancer care – Should it always be told?

 Abstract
This piece of work investigates the issues surrounding “truth telling in cancer care” and aims to provide a review of the issues centering around whether the patient should always be told firstly before the relatives.
The Stoma Care Nurse Specialist’s role involves caring for patients who have had stoma forming surgery for a variety of conditions including colorectal cancer, and a particular incident in the Writer’s workplace prompted a review into some of the issues surrounding truth telling.
This review will provide some debate into whether patients and their families want to know the truth about their illness, even when the news is not good.
A search of professional journals and documents was conducted to support this topic and a number of primary research articles were identified.
The studies highlighted the following issues: ethical implications, culture and age.
The literature shows that different cultures have varying opinions into whether the truth should be told to the patient first or if the family should be the ones told first. (Surbone 2006)
It also reveals that in some areas there are differing opinions on “age” in truth telling and that older patients are not given the information that they need.
The presentation will concentrate on cultural and ethical differences and the patient described is from an Afro- Caribbean descent.
The Writer acknowledges that nurses are sometimes not equipped with the relevant experience to deal with such situations and aims to ensure a similar situation arise in the future. Practitioner incidents are advocated as a method to assist deeper reflection and critical thinking to question and enhance practice. (Benner 1984)
The Writer was made aware of her need to broaden her knowledge and provide a source of information to share with her colleagues.
In conclusion, attitudes to truth telling preferences have shifted greatly around the world; however, the presentation shows that non disclosure is still happening.
On a more positive note as outcomes improve when dealing with a cancer diagnosis at the onset, there is every reason to think that people will be shocked at first but may cope better later if they are fully informed in a sensitive and timely manner from the onset – we do not hesitate to tell people that they have heart disease, which can be just as serious.
The studies used to guide this presentation were critiqued using the screening tool by CASP (2006) so were deemed by the writer to be acceptable pieces of research.