Nurses, physicians, social workers, and other caregivers frequently encounter patient deaths in the course of their professional responsibilities. Although the literature in these fields addresses the cumulative effects of such losses in burnout and vicarious traumatization, scant attention is given to the manifestation of grief in professional caregivers and the strategies available to acknowledge and address the losses experiences in the course of professional practice. This article examines the scholarly literature from a variety of helping professions on anticipated and unanticipated loss, the impact on caregivers’ experience of grief, the variables that can compound or complicate the mourning process, and the available resources to assist social workers in processing and integrating patient deaths.
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