Comunicación de “malas noticias” en salud

Truth telling when it comes to bad news is a particularly difficult situation in professional practice that carries enormous consequences in the experience of the illness of patients and relatives. This work aims to describe aspects associated with the difficulty of this professional task, considering national and international literature, as well as practitioner´s notions with respect to who and how adverse information is communicated. In this context, the debate about how proceed in these situations is discussed considering ethical principles and empirical evidence; and describing the recommendations of protocols that structure the process of delivering bad news. Whereas these guidelines are necessary but not sufficient, it is emphasized the active participation that professionals has in this communicative process and therefore the relevance of their self-knowledge and self-care.