Coping with pediatric death in the ED by learning from parental experience

Abstract

The death of a pediatric patient in the emergency department generates an intense emotional response in the physician and staff. A majority of emergency physicians describe this as the most stressful event in emergency medicine. Few emergency physicians are instructed in the complexities of dealing with the death of a child. The authors have developed a teaching module that introduces aspects of pediatric death-telling through the eyes of parents who have personally experienced the death of a child.