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Nicole G. Chau, MD; Camilla Zimmermann, MD, MSc; Clement Ma, MSc; Nathan Taback, PhD; Monika K. Krzyzanowska, MD, MPH

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We thank Dr Morris for sharing with us his experiences with bereavement follow-up. Dr Morris has found that bereavement follow-up, specifically funeral attendance, has many professional benefits including the avoidance of professional burnout.

Professional burnout is increasingly recognized among physicians and is characterized by the following 3 components: depersonalization (emotional hardening and impersonal response), emotional exhaustion, and lack of personal accomplishment.¹ Although funeral attendance was reported by a minority of physicians in our study (2% usually or always and 10% sometimes),² it may indeed provide an effective strategy to overcome one of the key components of burnout, depersonalization, reported by 22% of oncologists.³ However, the potential benefits of routine funeral attendance must also be weighed against the risks of emotional exhaustion (reported by 53%-69% of oncologists^3-4), compassion fatigue, . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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RELATED LETTER

Medical Oncologists' Experience in Attending a Funeral and Communicating Condolences
Daniel J. Morris
Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(19):1811.
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