Break Bad News (Role Play)

Set up before you speak. Check you have the right person, somewhere private, without interruption, and ask whether they would like anyone else present. Then find out what they already know and fear — many parents have already searched the symptoms — because it tells you where to start and often what to correct.

Ask permission before the information, and give a warning shot: "I'm afraid the tests have shown something we need to talk about." Pause. Then say it in one short, plain sentence — that their child has type 1 diabetes, a lifelong condition where the body stops making the hormone that controls blood sugar — and stop talking. The silence after the sentence is doing work; filling it is the commonest error at this station.

Respond to the emotion before the plan. Name what you see, acknowledge it, and allow the questions to come in whatever order they come, including the ones you have already answered. "Did I cause this?" is almost always asked, and answering it clearly is more useful than any amount of physiology.

Only then move to strategy, and only as much as they can hold: what happens today, who they will meet, that this is a condition that is managed rather than a life sentence, and that written information and a contact point will follow. Summarise, check understanding by asking what they will tell the rest of the family, and make the next appointment concrete.

Marks are lost by rushing to the management plan, by using "sugar disease" without ever naming the real condition, and by explaining rather than listening. Sitting with the news is the skill being examined.