ABSTRACT
Palliative care makes difficult, personal demands on those who provide it. In early palliative care literature, much was made of the concept of ‘burn out’
developed by Maslach.1 It was suggested that there was probably a ‘shelf life’ for those working in the field, a point beyond which negative self-concepts and job attitudes and a loss of concern for patients were almost inevitable. Vachon’s important review of staff stress in hospice/palliative care concludes that this is not so.2
