We spend our entire training learning how to save lives. We get little to no training on how to approach death.
When a patient comes in coding, after the CPR and epi are no longer working, we call it and move onto the next patient.
When a patient dies in the hospital, we fill out the death certificate, and it's onto the next task.
It is often even more difficult when our patient comes in talking, asking for help, and then dies while under our care.
All are deaths. All are lives that were lived, people that were loved, hands that worked, eyes that cried, and families and friends that will now grieve.
We owe it to ourselves and our well-being to take a few moments and reflect on their lives, their deaths, and the impact it has on us.
