Research: in the field : Many a tear

1 February 1997

Nurses, medical students and doctors frequently cry in hospitals,
according to a survey of three hospitals in Sydney. The survey, reported last
month in the Medical ]ournal of Australia (vol 166), says that the
topic of crying should be included in medical training and support should be
provided in hospitals for medical staff who are distressed by crying. The study
was based on a questionnaire filled in by 149 final-year medical students from
the University of New South Wales, 158 doctors, and 177 nurses. The nurses cried
the most and the students the least. Fifty-seven per cent of doctors, 76 per
cent of nurses and 31 per cent of medical students said they had cried in
hospital at least once. More than one in five of the medical students said they
had been ridiculed or screamed at after crying, while only one in 40 nurses had
been treated this way. The main reason for crying was identifying with the grief
and suffering of dying patients and their families.