12 | V&F Advice Column: Dealing with Death in Your Profession
- Virginia&Frances MD&MS
- Jun 24, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 21, 2020
Hi everyone! We were really eager to do this topic, even though it can be difficult to talk about. Dealing with death is something we both experienced in different ways. For Virginia, she started her first year in medical school dissecting a cadaver, and now works on the floor where she has experienced some of her patients dying. For Frances, after sitting through her first autopsy, she went on to study human and animal decomposition. However, having a death-centered profession can be difficult, so we hope we can help others through our experiences.
Some advice highlights from the episodes:
reach out to your support system - whether that is a debrief with colleagues or professional services like therapy. Maybe even a phone call to family or friends. It is important to have a strong support system to lean on when things get difficult. Don't be afraid to try out different methods to see what works for you.
recognize unhealthy behaviors like compassion fatigue, repression, and avoidance. It can be challenging to recognize these behaviors or feelings in ourselves, so this is where the support system can be so important. If you are having mental health struggles, don't feel ashamed. It is normal.
realize that you are not alone - there are many others in your field that have relatable experiences. You are not weird for being passionate about your profession or field, even though death is not always easy to deal with. So, we hope this episode will make you feel heard.
As always, sources.
Virginia
Patient loss: surgeons describe how they cope
How doctors are taught to deal with death
"This Is Just Too Awful; I Just Can't Believe I Experienced That...": Medical Students' Reactions to Their "Most Memorable" Patient Death
Grieving the Death of a Patient
How physicians cope with patient death
Frances
Life after death: When dying is an ordinary part of your working day
The forensic pathologist who got PTSD: ‘Cutting up 23,000 dead bodies is not normal’
The Doctors Whose Patients Are Already Dead
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