Each health care professional reacts and copes differently to stress, especially when their patients don't do well clinically. Everyone must find a method to manage their emotions when stressful events occur, whether in one's personal life or professional life. I have spent many years helping my colleagues cope after experiencing poor outcomes in patient care. Each time a devastating unanticipated patient outcome occurs, I am still significantly impacted both mentally and physically. I will share with you the practices I have found that bring some sanity into my life as a practicing critical care/palliative care anesthesiologist who consistently cares for patients at the edge/end of life.
In my opinion, one's practice environment can be instrumental in helping to ease the burden on a colleague who has experienced an unanticipated poor patient care outcome. First, early relief from clinical duty can give one the opportunity to focus on/process the patient care...
