Beyond the Textbook: Teaching Medical Trainees About Death and Grief
by Melanie Orr, D.O. | September 22, 2025
Article Citation: Ibrahim H, Oyoun Alsoud L, West K, Maraka JO, Sorrell S, Harhara T, Nair SC, Vetter CJ, Krishna L. Interventions to support medical trainee well-being after patient death: A scoping review. J Hosp Med. 2024 Nov;19(11):1044-1052. doi: 10.1002/jhm.13489.
What is this article about?
This article addresses a well-documented gap in the medical education literature regarding trainees’ exposure to end-of-life care and confidence in managing the complex emotions surrounding patient death. The authors conducted a systematic review of 50 articles that examined strategies to support medical trainees following patient deaths during their hospital rotations. The article compared four intervention types: educational (lectures and workshops), clinical experiences (rotations in hospice and palliative care), postventions (debriefing sessions) and arts-based (including film, music, and poetry). In doing so, each category’s unique role and potential benefits were explored. Additionally, the authors uncovered key gaps in the structure and consistency of these support interventions. The article highlights the current high variability in format and frequency of each of the intervention domains, as well as lack of clarity regarding who should be responsible for delivering these interventions. The article underscores the need for more standardized, longitudinal, and trainee-centered approaches regarding end of life care training.
Why should you read the article?
This study sheds light on the significant emotional impact that death and dying have on medical trainees – contributing to stress, depression, and burnout. Reviewing this article helps the reader better understand the shortcomings of current educational practices in preparing trainees for encountering death and the accompanying emotional demands. The summary of available interventions equips medical educators with practical and evidence-based strategies to provide meaningful and comprehensive support to their learners when navigating end of life care.
How can you use this article?
This review article offers guidance to medical educators to improve quality of education by integrating structured, diverse, and evidence-based interventions on death and grief into their training curricula. It supports incorporation of intentional exposure to hospice and palliative care settings early in medical training, standardized debriefing practices, and the use of reflective and art-based approaches to help trainees process their emotional response to death. The authors highlight the importance of longitudinal, trainee-centered, and varied types of interventions to allow the learner to engage in end-of-life care from a number of different avenues. The article additionally suggests the role of team-based and interdisciplinary experiences to allow for trainee observation and management of patient death from various different perspectives. By adopting these strategies, medical education programs can better support the emotional well-being of trainees and foster the development of more resilient and empathetic physicians.
Review Author: Melanie Orr, D.O., PGY-3, Department of Neurology, University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT. Organization: Consortium of Neurology Clerkship Directors