The Karnieli-Miller Communication and Professionalism Lab
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences,
Tel Aviv University, Israel
The Department of Medical Education
Breaking Bad News
Communication during breaking bad news (BBN) interactions is challenging for medical professionals and critical for patient outcomes. Physicians’ communication management during these encounters impacts patients’ and families’ relationships with their healthcare providers and, consequently, their treatment choices and adherence.
To improve health professionals’ competencies in BBN, within the Karnieli-Miller lab, we continually deepen our understanding of breaking bad news encounters and develop ways of teaching and assessing it. We developed a revised model to break bad news and a position paper guiding the development of a curriculum to teach medical students how to break bad news.
How to deliver bad news (in Hebrew)
To learn more about our studies:
Karnieli-Miller, O., Palombo, M., Laor, N., (2023). The hidden curriculum of breaking bad news: Identification of three dimensions and Four communication patterns. Patient Education and Counseling, 105(7), 1842-1851 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2023.107807
Karnieli-Miller, O., Pelles, S., & Meitar, D. (2022). Position paper: Teaching breaking bad news to undergraduate medical students. Patient Education and Counseling, 105,2899-2944 (invited) DOI: 10.1016/j.pec.2022.05.018
Meitar, D., & Karnieli-Miller, O. (2021). Twelve tips to manage a breaking bad news process: Using S-P-w-ICE-S - a revised version of the SPIKES protocol. Medical Teacher, 1-5 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0142159X.2021.1928618
Brand Gothelf, A. Hasson-Ohayon, I, Hertz-Palmor, N., Basel, D. Gothelf, D, & Karnieli-Miller, O. (2021). The delivery of diagnosis by child psychiatrists: Process characteristics and correlates of distress. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, 632207. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.632207/full
Karnieli-Miller, O., Neufeld Kroszynski, G. (2018). The potential of argumentation theory in enhancing patient-centered care in breaking bad news encounters. Journal of Argumentation in Context, 7(2), 120–137. (Invited) https://doi.org/10.1075/jaic.18023.kar
Karnieli-Miller O, Palombo M, Meitar D. (2018). See, reflect, and learn more: Qualitative analysis of breaking bad news reflective narratives. Medical Education, 52, 497–512. https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.13582
Karnieli-Miller, O., Michael, K., Eidelman, S., and Meitar, D. (2018). What you ‘see’ is how you communicate: medical students’ meaning making of a patient’s vignette. Patient Education & Counseling, 101, 1645–1653. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2018.04.004
Moran GS, Oz G, Karnieli-Miller O. (2014). Psychiatrists' challenges in considering disclosure of schizophrenia diagnosis in Israel. Qualitative Health Research, 24(10), 1368-80. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732314547085
Meitar D, Karnieli-Miller O, Eidelman, S. (2009). The impact of senior medical students' personal difficulties on their communication patterns in breaking bad news. Academic Medicine, 84(11), 1582-1594. https://doi.org/10.1097/acm.0b013e3181bb2b94
Karnieli-Miller O, Werner P, Aharon-Peretz Y, Eidelman S. (2007). Dilemmas in the (un)veiling of the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease: Walking an ethical and professional tight rope. Patient Education & Counseling, 67, 307-314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2007.03.014
Karnieli-Miller O, Werner P, Neufeld-Kroszynski G, Eidelman S. (2012). Are you talking to me?! An exploration of the triadic physician-patient-companion communication within memory clinics encounters. Patient Education & Counseling. Sep; 88(3):381-90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2012.06.014
Karnieli-Miller O, Werner P, Aharon-Peretz J, Sinoff G, Eidelman S. (2012). Expectations, experiences, and tensions in the memory clinic: the process of diagnosis disclosure of dementia within a triad. Int Psychogeriatrics, 24(11), 1756-70. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610212000841