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Where do residents learn about death pronouncement? The hit medical shows on television glamorize life-saving high drama, not the business of declaring someone dead-by yourself in the middle of the night. Medical students and residents receive mixed and varied unofficial training in death pronouncement. Residents in our program report everything from watching senior residents perform full neurologic examinations on patients to determine that they were, in fact, dead, to feeling inadequate in providing comfort to families and in recording proper documentation.
The death pronouncement involves more than the actual declaration of death. It may be a relatively straightforward procedure when the death is expected and the family is not present. However, when the resident is interacting with a grief-stricken family,...