Healthcare, Grief, and Personal Wellness
“It is unrealistic to expect healthcare workers to immerse themselves in suffering daily and be unaffected by it.”
No One is Immune to Grief
Whether it's the death of a long-term patient, a traumatic code, or witnessing repeated suffering, the emotional weight of this work adds up. That grief, if unacknowledged, can manifest as emotional exhaustion, difficulty connecting with others, irritability, numbness, or chronic stress. These effects can impact both personal well-being and professional functioning.
Normalizing Grief in Healthcare Settings
Grief is a natural response to loss. In many healthcare environments, however, it may be treated as something to manage privately or set aside in order to keep working. When grief is unacknowledged, it can contribute to isolation, guilt, or shame following a patient’s death. Normalizing grief involves recognizing it as part of healthcare work and considering how workplace cultures and systems can support staff in processing loss.
It’s hard. You know that you have to continue with your day. You know that when you’re grieving about one patient, you have 10 others on that day to take care of. So there’s not a lotta space or time for that. And I feared, and I think that’s a lot of people’s fear, like that if you break down, how are you going to continue with your job during the day?
This silence can intensify feelings of isolation, guilt, or even shame after a patient dies. Normalizing grief means recognizing it as part of the job and considering how to support grief in the workplace.
You’re expected to just move on, but sometimes you can’t. It stays with you. You go home, you think about their family, you see their face.
Internalized Messages
Repeated exposure to unsupportive norms around grief and emotional regulation can shape internal beliefs over time. A 2023 meta-synthesis identified several common internalized messages that may undermine well-being, including:
- Cultural stigma: “I should be able to handle this.”
- Time pressure: “I don’t have time to grieve.”
- Professional identity pressure: “If I break down, I’ll lose credibility.”
These beliefs often reflect adaptive responses to systemic and workplace pressures. Because they are learned, they can also be examined, challenged, and unlearned with appropriate support.
Shifting the Culture
Healthcare professionals are often asked to carry significant emotional weight while maintaining composure, productivity, and clinical focus. Administrative demands, time pressure, and expectations to appear confident can leave little space to process the impact of patient loss or moral distress. Over time, these conditions can contribute to isolation and make grief harder to acknowledge.
Intentional, institutional support for grief can help protect clinician well-being and sustain compassionate care. Creating a culture where emotional responses are recognized and supported, without fear of judgment or professional consequences, can strengthen teams and help preserve the human connection at the heart of healthcare.