Tips for a difficult death

[u/Amazing-Ad8160]

New attending. Had a gruesome death of a little boy happen in front of me the other day. I will spare the specific details but it was a penetrating trauma. Peds trauma cracked his chest, chest tubes, whole blood, blood on the floor, fingers in the wounds to stop the bleeding, the whole deal. Screaming parents and grandparents afterword. Have two sons similarly aged and I can’t get this out of my head to function normally at home. Just so happened to happen right before a week off so haven’t been back to work yet. Seen what seems like tons of deaths at this point and was never affected to this degree . Never seen a traumatic death of a healthy child though (seen pediatric codes but chronically Ill kids on borrowed time) Any tips for getting over it? How do you deal with bad deaths and making sure you don’t develop ptsd/burn out? I love what I do but if this was any weekly occurrence I would quit.

[u/Substantial_Dig4015]

Talk with your colleagues who were present during it. I can assure you they feel the same way. We are trauma bonded. It’s good to talk with people who have seen it with their own eyes and feel it. Others don’t understand.

We try to all be tough on the outside during. Cold. But if you REALLY talk to one another on off time…. It can be a really good release.