Death Notification in the Emergency Department: Survivors and Physicians

When patients die in the emergency department (ED), emergency physicians (EP) must disclosethe bad news to family members. The death is often unexpected and the act of notification can bedifficult. Many EPs have not been trained in the skill of communicating death to family members.This article reviews the available literature regarding ED death notification training and proposesfuture directions for educational interventions to improve physician communication in ED deathdisclosure.