TRUTH TELLING TO TERMINALLY ILL PATIENTS IN BULGARIAN HOSPICES

摘要: Abstract For centuries there was an informal rule not to tell the truth cancer patients. The paternalistic model of relationships still exists in many societies relation issue informing patient. object this paper is study telling terminally ill patients Bulgarian hospices. Materials and methods . employed a combination sociological statistical methods. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed among personnel patients’ relatives 17 in-patient, 12 home care hospices 5 palliative units. Altogether, 190 health professionals 216 responded questionnaires. response rates for 86% 74.5% respectively. Results. According personnel, 62.1% autonomous units, 23-24% in-patient majority familiar with diagnosis (50.4% hospices, 66.7% home-care 78.8% units). There significant difference data obtained by relatives. Most informed their physician before hospice admission. 10.2%-18.5% Conclusion. Following recent tendencies favor respect autonomy, physicians inform try build partnerships most therapeutic relations. case one complex sensitive situations presenting moral dilemma clinical practice. Keywords: telling, ill, Bulgaria