Bearing Witness to Grief

Abstract

Details have been changed to protect patient privacy. Acknowledgments:The author thanks all the patients who generously allow health care students to be involved in their care and journeys.

An Overview of This Year’s Trainee-Authored Letters to the Editor

“…If we do not talk about it, it will not change. 5 Another trainee, a medical student, recounted how the "informal curriculum of medical culture" 6 affected their ability to adequately grieve the death of a family member from metastatic pancreatic cancer. They realized that the medical culture needs to change to prevent burnout, which not only affects their peers but also their patients.…”

“…Therefore, it is imperative to teach medical trainees how to acknowledge and attend to our own grief. 6 Trainees recognize the value in using their voices to speak out about topics of importance to them. Three medical students discussed the power of the pen: how writing and publishing opinion articles can "amplify the voices of our Black, Asian-American, and youth communities … lifting underrepresented voices and shaping key health care debates. "…”

“…Therefore, it is imperative to teach medical trainees how to acknowledge and attend to our own grief. 6…”