Dealing with Death & Dying in Medical Education and Practice
© 2001 Kirsti A. Dyer, MD, MS Email:griefdoc@kirstimd.com
AMSA Convention March 30, 2001
Death Awareness




Quickly, without much thought, write down all of the words that come into your mind in response to the word--

 - DEATH -



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

On to Assessment

 
 


Exercise/Assessment
1. List all the words that come into your mind in response to the word "DEATH"
2. Assign values - positive, negative, neutral to the words you have written.
3. Total up the number of positives, negatives and neutrals.
4. Discuss/Share
5. Insights - the number of positives vs. negatives provides a sense for where you may be in dealing with DEATH
Example:
 
ø  Dying
-  Grief
-  Loss
-  Sorrow
+ Rebirth
+ Renewal

Totals:
 
 		 -  Pain
-  Suffering
-  Alone
-  Loneliness
-  Dark
-  Black
-  Bleak

3   Neutral
10 Negatives
7   Positives
 		 ø  Cemeteries
ø  Tomb Stones
+  Reverence
+  Family legacy
+  Memories
+  Remembrance
+  Celebration of Life

 
 
 
 

Source 
Irish DP, Lundquist KF, Nelson VJ, Eds.: Ethnic Variations in Dying, Death, and Grief: Diversity in Universality.  Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis, 1993.
Bell G. Presented at Cross Ccultural Aspects of Loss and Grief, March 2001. UC Berkeley Extension.
 
Compilation of resources for this presentation and Website © 2001 Kirsti A. Dyer, MD, MS.
Journey of Hearts, www.journeyofhearts.org