[Awareness of diagnosis and prognosis in patients with unfavorable prognosis: perception of the attitudes of a group of doctors and nurses].

In oncological patients , communication of the diagnosis of the disease or its regression and the patient's awareness of both diagnosis and prognosis, plays a central role. Up to a few decades ago , it was common practice not to reveal the diagnosis of cancer. Nowadays, the situation has changed owing to radical socio-cultural changes. However, in daily practice, the most frequent impression is that the patient does not entirely realize the implications of diagnosis and prognosis and health workers find it difficult to inform patients clearly and honestly so that they can decide which cures to accept or decline. An observational study was performed on a group of 153 doctors and nurses to identify their opinions and attitudes regarding how to inform cancer patients, in terms of diagnosis and prognosis, and how they perceived the level of awareness in such patients. The results of the study partly confirmed published data , in that both doctors and nurses thought it best to inform the patient of the oncological pathology, keeping back the unfavorable prognosis and that the percentage of patients really made aware of these implications was lower than officially declared.