Grief and Bereavement Seminar Goes Global
FOR A PEDIATRICIAN, sharing bad news, like the diagnosis of an incurable disease or the death of a patient, can be an extremely nerve-wracking experience. Read more.
By: Gary Logan, Hopkins Children’s Magazine, Summer 2017.
The Hardest Words
Janet Serwint equips pediatric residents to handle hard losses.
As a professor of pediatrics, Hopkins’ Janet Serwint has seen firsthand just how painful it is for families to lose a child to illness or accident-and how crucial it is for health care providers to handle such deaths with compassion. Read more.
By: Neil A. Grauer, Johns Hopkins Medicine Magazine, Spring/Summer 2011.
The Hardest Words Physicians Ever Have to Say
Nothing is more devastating to parents than the death of their child.
And nothing is more difficult for a physician to do than deliver that tragic news-as well as deal with the loss of a patient. Read more.
Sorry and Loss 101
Jason Kravitt, A&S ’69, funds bereavement seminars for Hopkins pediatric residents.
Imagine you are pregnant. For nine months you have felt a child grow inside of you, until you arise in the middle of a bitter cold January night to travel across Chicago to the hospital. You are so excited you can hardly contain yourself. Read more.
By: Kelly Brooks, Johns Hopkins Magazine, Winter 2014.
Pediatric Bereavement Workshop
Helps Train Residents to Comfort Grieving Parents.
Physicians are taught to save lives, but sometimes, despite the best efforts of a physician and the entire healthcare team, a patient dies-and delivering that devastating news to parents requires a sensitivity and communications skills that only come through training and experience. To help second-year pediatric residents at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center prepare for such a difficult and emotional experience, the Hospital held its fifth annual Pediatric Bereavement Workshop in May, a day-long seminar sponsored by the Cameron Kravitt Foundation, and conducted by the Phylyssa and David Komansky Center for Children’s Health and Weill Cornell Medical College. Read more.
By: Susan B. Bostwick, New York-Presbyterian Pediatric Advances News, September 2009.
Engaging Families
Pediatric resident Jessica Howlett leans toward the worried young parents. In the early morning hours their 2-month-old son, Christopher, stopped breathing for no apparent reason. They called the paramedics, who tried to resuscitate the baby en route to the emergency room. Now it was Howlett’s job to tell them their infant son had not survived: “As you know, Christopher came to us very sick. His heart wasn’t working and he couldn’t breathe. Despite our best efforts, I’m sorry to tell you that Christopher died.” Read more.
By: Dr. George Dover, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center Given Professor of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center Pediatrician Magazine, Spring 2009.
