ABSTRACT

It seems to me that although the care of dying people and their relatives can be stressful to the professionals concerned, it can also be very rewarding. Each person's experience of stress in palliative care is different, depending on previous experiences of death or bereavement and established ways of coping with the emotions aroused by stress of any kind. I believe it is important to have some insight into our feelings and to be able to acknowledge when we are upset, rather than giving the appearance to colleagues and patients that nothing ever troubles us. Being professional and retaining the ability to support others does not, in my experience, mean being invulnerable to feeling sad or, on occasions, angry.