This Article  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Hugh F. Johnston, MD
University of Wisconsin Hospitals & Clinics Madison

JAMA. 1985;253(14):2044.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

In Reply.—

Dr Self believes that I would condemn medical school courses on death and dying as generally irrelevant and unhelpful. This is neither my belief nor was it my intention to convey that notion when I wrote "Preparation." I believe it is most sensible to judge such courses on their own individual merits; the one I took in medical school was excellent.

The issue I address in my essay has to do with the preparation of students for the experience of being with a patient during terrible physical and emotional suffering such as that which Mr G. endured. Courses on death and dying are not particularly aimed at this topic, although death and suffering are often related. I have observed that physicians often have considerable difficulty dealing with this situation and in dealing with the feelings that it arouses in them and in other staff and family members. Typically, . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?