Crying with a Patient: A Pilot Study of the Attitudes of Physicians and Physicians-in-Training

Physicians are taught to maintain emotional distance. However, limited research suggests that many have cried in the hospital setting. How physicians understand and manage their emotions is an understudied topic, and public displays of emotion are not adequately addressed in medical education. To better understand physician and trainee views about displaying emotion in front of patients, we conducted a mixed-methods study using vignettes, closed-, and open-ended questions to explore the current attitudes of medical students, residents, and physicians at one academic medical center regarding whether or not it is appropriate for a physician to cry with a patient. Quantitative analyses investigated the effects that vignette constructs, level of training, gender, and history of crying at work within the last six months had on respondents' opinions regarding the appropriateness of physicians crying. An open-ended question, "Describe a situation in the hospital during which you felt like crying," was analyzed for key themes.