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The effect of patient death on medical students in the emergency department

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dc.contributor.author Batley, Nicholas J.
dc.contributor.author Bakhti, Rinad
dc.contributor.author Chami, Ali
dc.contributor.author Jabbour, Elsy
dc.contributor.author Bachir, Rana
dc.contributor.author El Khuri, Christopher
dc.contributor.author Mufarrij, Afif J.
dc.date.accessioned 2022-10-14T08:54:21Z
dc.date.available 2022-10-14T08:54:21Z
dc.date.copyright 2017 en_US
dc.date.issued 2022-10-14
dc.identifier.issn 1472-6920 en_US
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10725/14061
dc.description.abstract Background The emotional consequences of patient deaths on physicians have been studied in a variety of medical settings. Reactions to patient death include distress, guilt, and grief. Comparatively, there are few studies on the effects of patient death on physicians and residents in the Emergency Department (ED). The ED setting is considered unique for having more sudden deaths that likely include the young and previously healthy and expectations for the clinician to return to a dynamic work environment. To date, no studies have looked at the effects of patient deaths on the more vulnerable population of medical students in the ED. This study examined aspects of patient deaths in the ED that most strongly influence students’ reactions while comparing it to those of an inpatient setting. Methods Semi-structured qualitative interviews were carried out with a total of 16 medical students from the American University of Beirut, Medical Center in Lebanon who had recently encountered a patient death in the ED. Questions included their reaction to the death, interaction with patients and their family members, the response of the medical team, and coping mechanisms adopted. Results The analysis revealed the following as determinant factors of student reaction to patient death: context of death; including age of patient, expectation of death, first death experience, relating patient death to personal deaths, and extent of interaction with patient and family members. Importantly, deaths in an inpatient setting were judged as more impactful than ED deaths. ED deaths, however, were especially powerful when a trauma case was deemed physically disturbing and cases in which family reactions were emotionally moving. Conclusion The study demonstrates that students’ emotional reactions differ as a function of the setting (surprise and shock in the ED versus sadness and grief in an inpatient setting). Debriefing and counseling sessions on ED deaths may benefit from this distinction. en_US
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.title The effect of patient death on medical students in the emergency department en_US
dc.type Article en_US
dc.description.version Published en_US
dc.author.school SOM en_US
dc.author.idnumber 201805248 en_US
dc.author.department N/A en_US
dc.relation.journal BMC Medical Education en_US
dc.journal.volume 17 en_US
dc.journal.issue 1 en_US
dc.article.pages 1-8 en_US
dc.keywords Medical students en_US
dc.keywords Patient death en_US
dc.keywords Emotional reaction en_US
dc.keywords Emergency department en_US
dc.keywords Inpatient setting en_US
dc.keywords Patient interaction en_US
dc.keywords Coping mechanisms en_US
dc.identifier.doi https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-017-0945-9 en_US
dc.identifier.ctation Batley, N. J., Bakhti, R., Chami, A., Jabbour, E., Bachir, R., El Khuri, C., & Mufarrij, A. J. (2017). The effect of patient death on medical students in the emergency department. BMC medical education, 17(1), 1-8. en_US
dc.author.email elsy.jabbour@lau.edu.lb en_US
dc.identifier.tou http://libraries.lau.edu.lb/research/laur/terms-of-use/articles.php en_US
dc.identifier.url https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-017-0945-9 en_US
dc.author.affiliation Lebanese American University en_US


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