Death and Dying: Attitudes, Causes, Process, & Measures

Course overview

Each day of our lives, 250,000 people die in the world. Although the circumstances are unique for each individual, certain commonalities exist with respect to the ways in which our lives come to an end. Despite the inevitability of our eventual death, prevailing attitudes and societal customs shelter us from the realities of this natural process, possibly preventing us from engaging authentically with our patients as they face the end of life. This course will explore the attitudes, causes, and trajectories of the dying process, emphasizing the clinical manifestations associated with the shutting down of body systems and physiologic processes. Finally, this course will explore objective measures which can be used for prognosis of mortality, measurement of symptoms, and assessment of function. It is hoped that this course will promote awareness, understanding and empowerment as we support our patients and their families through this ultimate journey.