CM. Delivering Unexpected News

Behaviour

• Put the probe down and make eye contact
• If conducting a trans-vaginal scan, allow the woman to choose whether she would prefer to receive the news while the probe is in-situ or to get dressed first.

Perceived Neutrality

• It is important that phrases such as ‘bad news’ and ‘good news’ or ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ are avoided when describing findings.
• Neutral phrases such as ‘expected’ and ‘unexpected’ should be prioritised. It is also important that the term ‘chance’ is used rather than ‘risk’ when conveying likelihoods of possible outcomes.

The default term when communicating with expectant parents should be ‘baby’ rather than ‘pregnancy’ or ‘fetus’, as this is preferred by most expectant parents.