Death and dying — it is one of the first topics I was taught about in medical school. I was fortunate to attend a medical school that only made us spend half our time falling asleep in lectures. The other half we were in small group sessions, working our way through real patient scenarios, trying to learn to think like a physician.
As part of our first-year curriculum we had to spend time doing some mock patient interviews and mock discussions. This included reading a book called How to Break Bad News: A Guide for Health Care Professionals, which was about, you know, how to break bad news to patients.
We had mock discussions where we had to practice telling a patient their spouse died. We stumbled artificial scenarios, and were taught some of the basics: take a moment to compose yourself; sit at eye-level; avoid euphemisms (he didn’t “pass away,” he died).
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