A physician’s grief observed

[摘要] Palliative care interested me early in my career,even though there were no formal trainingoptions available at the time. After residency, achance encounter with a colleague led me to a palliativecare role, where I learned as I went. I was good at symptom management and communicating with patients andfamilies about goals and difficult decisions. However, Ifelt slightly ashamed when I found myself trying to avoidthe powerful emotions evoked by grief in my patientsand their families.Looking back, I can see that I provided excellent careuntil a patient’s death. Yet after the death, I was less certain about how to help or, even more important, lesscertain of how to be with the grieving family. I felt likeI could be supportive but did not really fully understandwhat people were going through, and I was very uncomfortable being with others’ pain.

[学科分类] 卫生学