title: Emergency physicians' experience with pediatric death.
abstract: Based on the hypothesis that managing pediatric death--particularly, communicating with survivors--is extremely difficult for most emergency physicians, 122 general emergency physicians at a written board review course were surveyed to assess their attitudes toward pediatric death. Sixty-six percent reported that communicating with the family of a child who had died was the most difficult experience in emergency medicine. Sixty-six percent considered communication with the family of a child who had died to be much more difficult than communication with the family of an adult who had died. Sixty-four percent reported feelings of guilt or inadequacy after unsuccessful pediatric resuscitation, and 47% reported feeling impaired for the remainder of their shift. Only 8% of physicians were aware of published guidelines regarding managing pediatric emergency department (ED) deaths, and only 14% of physicians had ever had any training in death notification. Ninety-two percent of physicians responded that a course directed toward managing the family of a child who had died in the ED would be helpful in dealing with this difficult situation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA.
authors.forename: W R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Ahrens
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Hart
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001293:Attitude to Death; D001601:Bereavement; D002648:Child; D003142:Communication; D004501:Education, Medical; D004635:Emergency Medicine; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006167:Guilt; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D012151:Resuscitation; D013795:Thanatology; D017211:Treatment Failure