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0670/2013 - Meaning of death for doctors in end-of-life care of patient undergoing bone marrow transplantation
Significado da morte para médicos frente à situação de terminalidade de pacientes submetidos ao Transplante de Medula Óssea

Author:

• Manoel Antônio dos Santos - Santos, M.A. - Ribeirão Preto, SP - Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo - <masantos@ffclrp.usp.br>

Co-author(s):

• Fernanda Cristina de Oliveira Santos Aoki - Aoki, FCOS - Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo - <masantos@ffclrp.usp.br>
• Érika Arantes de Oliveira-Cardoso - Oliveira-Cardoso, E.A. - Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo - <erikaao@ffclrp.usp.br>
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7986-0158

Thematic Area:

Saúde Mental

Abstract:

Literature has addressed how health professionals mean and deal with death and dying, but studies rooted in the perspective of the doctor are still scarce. This study aimed to investigate the meaning of death for doctors who work with terminally ill patients in Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) context. The research was based on qualitative methodological approach and collective case study, and used Dejours’ psychodynamic of work as theoretical framework. Participants were five practitioners linked to a Unit of Bone Marrow Transplantation in a university hospital in São Paulo, Brazil. We applied a semi-structured which addressed the personal, academic and professional experiences raised by a terminal situation. Data were organized into categories: "Work and professional identity: the doctor’s battle against death" and "vocation and medical training: it all starts at home." The results show that, in the medical and hospital context, death is almost always reduced to rationality and technicality and therefore must be resisted at all costs. The meanings attributed to death are anchored in the values of contemporary society and structered on pathways and obstacles faced throughout his life story and in academia, which influence how professionals experience the process of dying patients. In the perennial struggle between life and death, the patient in a terminal situation becomes a symbol of the defeat of the doctor, which leads the practitioner to maintain a cautious distance.

Keywords:

Attitude to death Medical staff - hospital Physician-patient relations Hospice care Bone Marrow Transplantation Grief

Content:

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How to

Cite

Santos, M.A., Aoki, FCOS, Oliveira-Cardoso, E.A.. Meaning of death for doctors in end-of-life care of patient undergoing bone marrow transplantation. Cien Saude Colet [periódico na internet] (2013/May). [Citado em 27/09/2024]. Está disponível em: http://cienciaesaudecoletiva.com.br/en/articles/meaning-of-death-for-doctors-in-endoflife-care-of-patient-undergoing-bone-marrow-transplantation/13016



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