ABSTRACT
New doctors have a vital role to play in caring for and advocating for dying patients and their families, and they are likely to shoulder greater responsibility in this area during out-of-hours shifts. Breaking bad news is one of the key tasks in this work, a delicate consultation that can nevertheless be guided by tools such as the ‘SPIKES’ model. Learning to listen well and being comfortable using silence can help new doctors in their interactions with bereaved families. The chapter goes on to highlight that although bearing witness to the deaths of our patients is part of being a doctor, it is also an occupational hazard – doctors need to care for themselves, too. Some basic self-care strategies are discussed, but when events surrounding a patient’s death have been incredibly traumatic and totally outside a trainee’s previous experience, the burden of responsibility for supporting doctors must shift towards formal channels, without losing the support from informal ones.
