RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Bearing Witness to Grief
JF The Annals of Family Medicine
JO Ann Fam Med
FD American Academy of Family Physicians
SP 564
OP 565
DO 10.1370/afm.2886
VO 20
IS 6
A1 Driscoll, Abigail
YR 2022
UL http://www.annfammed.org/content/20/6/564.abstract
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.