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livelyghost's review
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Big feelings, big tears, and rekindling a lot of memories of my last few years in the ICU. An incredible reminder that nobody in healthcare is really alone in their feelings.
szucker6's review
5.0
An excellent and important book. It provided solace and community for me as I grieve the patients I have lost this year.
The one issue I had was the praise of self-care without acknowledgement of its cost. Not only monetary and time, but moral. E.g. one doctor was praised for breaking free from our system that requires visits limited to 20min—she left the OB/GYN practice she worked for and started her own, which allowed her to spend 45min with patients and (I don’t remember the exact words but in essence) “be free from the constraints of accepting insurance.” Her practice sounds lovely…and only accessible to those who can oh out of pocket. I just wished there was acknowledgement of yes self care practices and moments of reflection and taking time are important if not essential, but allocation of resources in that way will always take away from something else. It’s not that the world of healthcare workers doesn’t know that self care helps, it’s that we feel we cannot choose it. And I felt that message was lacking.
Something I loved was the section devoted to talking about important workers such as interpreters and environmental service workers who are impacted by trauma but less frequently acknowledged. I still think about the interpreters who had to relay the difficult news to families during the the peak of the COVID delta surge, and I wonder how they carry that trauma. It was really important to me to see Jones represent these essential workers in this narrative.
The one issue I had was the praise of self-care without acknowledgement of its cost. Not only monetary and time, but moral. E.g. one doctor was praised for breaking free from our system that requires visits limited to 20min—she left the OB/GYN practice she worked for and started her own, which allowed her to spend 45min with patients and (I don’t remember the exact words but in essence) “be free from the constraints of accepting insurance.” Her practice sounds lovely…and only accessible to those who can oh out of pocket. I just wished there was acknowledgement of yes self care practices and moments of reflection and taking time are important if not essential, but allocation of resources in that way will always take away from something else. It’s not that the world of healthcare workers doesn’t know that self care helps, it’s that we feel we cannot choose it. And I felt that message was lacking.
Something I loved was the section devoted to talking about important workers such as interpreters and environmental service workers who are impacted by trauma but less frequently acknowledged. I still think about the interpreters who had to relay the difficult news to families during the the peak of the COVID delta surge, and I wonder how they carry that trauma. It was really important to me to see Jones represent these essential workers in this narrative.
avoryfaucette's review against another edition
4.0
When I picked up Grief on the Front Lines, I expected COVID war stories from medical professionals and useful wisdom on handling grief that I might be able to use in my own healing work. After all, these folks work with death every day, they must be super well trained in all kinds of grief counseling and related skills, right?
What I learned was in fact pretty horrifying. While I knew that the US healthcare system is a mess, I never expected some of the bleak facts and anecdotes that I read in this book. Not only is it common for those working with the dying and their families to have NO training around grief, I learned of a toxic hospital culture that's honestly made me terrified to ever have another surgery, medical professionals bullied into suicide and penalized for seeking any mental health services, and a dwindling workforce that's likely to result in a major crisis very soon even beyond the specific impact of COVID.
There are silver linings, of course. Much of the book focuses on solutions and the way different departments are implementing wellness practices and other measures. There are interesting treatments of special topics, as well, including medical aid in dying and palliative care. But my biggest takeaway is that the entire industry is a ticking time bomb, with marginalized providers and patients of course most affected. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with the ability to shape policy, and at the same time I am disheartened that change simply may not be possible in a capitalist context.
The cult of growth Eisenstein lays out in Sacred Economics shows up here in hospitals focused mainly on profits and in medical training that encourages doctors to prolong life by any means necessary. When the goal is triumph over nature, of course, we all lose. People die. Trying to change or delay that fact is not only futile—it's poisoning quality of life for patients and providers alike. This book is a potent reminder that care and capitalism do not mix.
ARC provided by NetGalley for review.
What I learned was in fact pretty horrifying. While I knew that the US healthcare system is a mess, I never expected some of the bleak facts and anecdotes that I read in this book. Not only is it common for those working with the dying and their families to have NO training around grief, I learned of a toxic hospital culture that's honestly made me terrified to ever have another surgery, medical professionals bullied into suicide and penalized for seeking any mental health services, and a dwindling workforce that's likely to result in a major crisis very soon even beyond the specific impact of COVID.
There are silver linings, of course. Much of the book focuses on solutions and the way different departments are implementing wellness practices and other measures. There are interesting treatments of special topics, as well, including medical aid in dying and palliative care. But my biggest takeaway is that the entire industry is a ticking time bomb, with marginalized providers and patients of course most affected. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with the ability to shape policy, and at the same time I am disheartened that change simply may not be possible in a capitalist context.
The cult of growth Eisenstein lays out in Sacred Economics shows up here in hospitals focused mainly on profits and in medical training that encourages doctors to prolong life by any means necessary. When the goal is triumph over nature, of course, we all lose. People die. Trying to change or delay that fact is not only futile—it's poisoning quality of life for patients and providers alike. This book is a potent reminder that care and capitalism do not mix.
ARC provided by NetGalley for review.
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