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I was training as a paramedic in a hospital. A doctor needed to give this kind of news to a family. He took me aside and told me to come in the room 3 minutes a
by miesman 8y ago
I was training as a paramedic in a hospital. A doctor needed to give this kind of news to a family. He took me aside and told me to come in the room 3 minutes after he went in and say that he was needed elsewhere. Apparently this was used quite often and the staff there called it a "save". Dealing with this sort of thing day after day the staff becomes numb to a lot of things.
Later in the week I was with someone who knew she was gonna die soon. I was talking to her and was trying to be with her. It was very difficult and I could feel part of myself slipping elsewhere. I was messed up the rest of the day. My preceptor had come into the room and left quickly, he didn't want to go there.
Anyway it does go both ways. Hospital staff need to do things to protect themselves so they can keep functioning. Ideally someone needs to be empathetic but they are also human. I don't feel delivering this sort of news via a video screen is appropriate though.
- nkoren 8y agoIt's definitely something you should be trained for.
- PhasmaFelis 8y agoEvery now and then there's a scandal where doctors are caught saying mean shit about a patient, behind closed doors or during surgery. (As if surgical awareness wasn't horrible enough.) There's always a lot of talk about whether such heartless people can be trusted to do their best and not cut corners. Something I heard years ago, and have never heard mentioned since, is that doctors are trained to do that, to talk shit about their patients in private, to give them emotional distance. If they let themselves care deeply about every suffering, dying person, they'd crack under the stress.