Breaking bad news Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Breaking bad news - Essay Example However, older people exhibit diseases and shorter life span because of bad treatment. In other words, the society and its communication to these people play a large part in health care services. A health care professional always thinks of a way on how to break bad news to patients. For these people, it is essential, difficult and often the most critical part of healthcare communication. For some, breaking bad news to patients is an innate skill. Patients have a hard time disclosing their feelings or find it necessary to establish a relationship of trust to be able to more easily accept the disclosure of such news. Presenting bad news to patients may give a negative result that may in turn lead to serious harm. All of these beliefs are made with a strong sense of suspicion; breaking bad news to patients is a skill learned rather than a talent. Medical doctors, for example, have in their education an area of learning good communication skills that entails a long period of learning (Back, 1999). Preparations – in ethical terms, the atmosphere provided should be private on both the part of the patient and the medical professional. In general, patients have varying needs; hence, it is appropriate to discuss with the patient who he/she wants to be the recipients of the information and major decisions like how much should be the information. Statements such as â€Å"How are you feeling right now?† would help the patient prepare himself for a two-way affair. Finding out how much the patient knows – in such aspect asking a question such as â€Å"What have already been told about your illness?† may be essential. This approach would likely measure the patient’s knowledge about his/her illness. It is also appropriate to ask patients how much they have understood on the information given, the patient’s level of technical comprehension and most of all is his/her emotional status. Finding out how much the patient’s capacity of accepting

The Elegant Universe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Elegant Universe - Essay Example forms that may have developed in the presence of water and in the earth-like conditions but there is every possibility that life forms may exist in conditions that we may discard as being unsuitable for life since those are not the conditions for life as we know it (Greene). It, therefore, seems very unlikely that we are alone in this universe and somewhere out there may be species waiting to be contacted.  According to almost all of the scientific community, the universe was formed about 13.6 billion years ago and it has been expanding since its conception. There had been quite some debates regarding the shape and nature of the universe in the scientific literature. There were many hits regarding the expansion of the universe including the famous Doppler effect on the electromagnetic spectrum where the radiations are red shifted. However, the most startling fact about our expanding universe is that the expansion is accelerating and the regions that are farthest away from us are mo ving the fastest. Moreover, there is no hint whether this acceleration would ever hint and therefore all the clues point towards the fact that the universe is infinite or if it has an end, it is almost at an infinite distance from us.  Even though the universe is so vast that our existence seems puny and negligible, I feel a deep connection to the universe. All the atoms in our body as well as in everything that we use, are born in the hearts of the stars. And it would not be an exaggeration to say that we are an embodiment of the universe trying to understand ourselves. The universe and its vastness is also a source of calmness and serenity; it is always there whether we try to observe it or not and hence its presence casts a shadow over us all the time. The stars, the sky as well as all the galaxies and the planets have aroused the curiosity of humans for generations and have played a vital role in laying down the foundations of science.