"One cannot be deeply responsive to the world without being saddened often." - Erich Fromm
We've had a few tough pediatric cases in my Emergency Room recently. Some of the nurses and I were talking about them along with other difficult cases we've had in the past. When it fell silent, one of the nurses looked up and said, "We chose a really difficult job".
That statement hit me hard. We spend so much time surrounded by others in our field, all with stories of sad and difficult cases, that I think we often forget how true that is.
We tell patients they have terminal cancer. We tell parents their children have died. We tell families there is nothing more we can do.
Even though we do it all day, every day, nobody ever teaches us how to handle it. How to experience what we do, then go home to our families, friends, roommates, as if everything is fine.
I think the first step is recognition. This job is hard.
