On reflection: how doctors learn to care for people who are dying

Introduction:

Globally, over the last twenty years, there has been a steady increase in the extent and variety of teaching about the care of people who are dying. In some countries palliative medicine is now recognized as a discrete medical specialty.

Much emphasis has rightly been placed on symptom management, communication skills and ethical issues but rarely in the medical literature does the concept of care, or how doctors learn to care, emerge.

Methods:

An interpretative phenomenological study involving ten doctors and their experiences of learning to care for people who are dying.

Results:

During the interviews the doctors retrospectively identified 'turning points' when they perceived that they had first had some notion of what it means to care for someone who is dying. These critical incidents were often remembered with strong feelings and poignant language. Doctors felt that their training had been inadequate in preparing them for such care.

Conclusions: This work suggests that medical education has not adequately prepared these doctors for this key element of their work and recommends ways in which practitioners may be better prepared to care for people who are dying.

Associated Publication(s):
MacLeod RD.On reflection: Doctors learning to care for people who are dying. Social Science & Medicine 2001; 52(11): 1719-1727