Palliative Care Can Burn You Out....Palliative Care Can Prevent Burn Out

Part 1. Palliative Care Can Burn You Out Have you had one of those emotionally draining days? You know the kind of day when family meetings are not going well.  Which is exactly how you feel when the first thing after introducing yourself a grandson asks: “why aren’t there any lawyers present at this meeting?” One of those days you are trying to help someone who is seriously ill and dying.  Sometimes it is emotionally harder because they might be closer to your age, reminding you that cancer or tragedies have no mercy.     Additionally, when you are helping others while you are also trying to care for a friend or a loved one who is seriously ill can be overwhelming. To be honest, the fear of being emotionally drained made me hesitate before deciding that pursuing a career in palliative medicine was right for me. I once heard the palliative care pioneer David Weissman say “I have a limit on the number of difficult family meetings I can handle in a day, and that number is four”.  No matter how seasoned you are, difficult cases will take a toll on you.  Being early in your professional career certainly puts you at a higher risk for burn out.  More than once we have made changes to the clinical rotation situation of learners in a personal crisis to allow for some rest, recharging and refocusing. So why do we do this palliative care work? Palliative care work can be rewardin...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - Category: Palliative Carer Workers Authors: Source Type: blogs