PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Driscoll, Abigail
TI  - Bearing Witness to Grief
AID  - 10.1370/afm.2886
DP  - 2022 Nov 01
TA  - The Annals of Family Medicine
PG  - 564--565
VI  - 20
IP  - 6
4099  - http://www.annfammed.org/content/20/6/564.short
4100  - http://www.annfammed.org/content/20/6/564.full
SO  - Ann Fam Med2022 Nov 01; 20
AB  - Minutes after starting my family medicine rotation, my first patient crumpled before my eyes. She shared a story of anguish and worry, overwhelmed with the grief of her partner’s unexpected death and consequential housing instability. As a medical student, I both underestimated and was underprepared for the pain of facing patients experiencing life-changing loss. It is one thing to read about structural trauma and deeply embedded inequalities; it is another to look into the eyes of the patients whose families are, in part, shaped by them. In this essay, I grapple with a myriad of emotions on my first day of family medicine—and contemplate the courage required to show up, wholeheartedly, for our patients.