Follow agency guidelines for disclosure. Ethical standards may be a source of conflict and anxiety when the professional healthcare provider is acting in the role of patient advocate. Recommended guidelines for telling a patient about test results can alleviate some of this frustration. Under normal circumstances, the patient has the right to be informed of test results. Although the healthcare provider who orders the test is responsible for providing initial test result information, other designated individuals may need to facilitate and support the patient’s right to know information about their health status.

In cases in which the patient brings family and significant others together to inform them about test results, communication becomes open and shared. This prevents the so-called conspiracy of silence, in which individuals in the scenario withhold information because they feel they are protecting the patient or family or because they do not know how to deal with the situation.