Preparing neonatal nurses for difficult conversations with parents

Discussing bad news with patients and families can be challenging for health professionals. Neonatal nurses have an important role in helping parents to prepare for, receive, understand and cope with bad news but this can be an anxiety-provoking situation for those who have had little training in this area. This article presents an education evaluation of the introduction of a series of sequential, developmental learning activities around good communication skills into a post-registration neonatal intensive care nursing module with the aim of providing guidance for neonatal nurses to better support parents.