When Grief Comes to Work: How Physicians Navigate Loss in Medicine
Sarah Burm, PhD
Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University
Date: Tuesday, December 9, 2025
Time: 12:00pm to 1:30pm
Hybrid: IRC Room 414 & Zoom*
Zoom Details: For connection details, please email ches.communications@ubc.ca.
Abstract
Physicians face unique challenges that often prevent them from fully experiencing their grief, a reality that became particularly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. In an effort to offer a more humanizing perspective on grief in medicine, Dr. Burm initiated a qualitative inquiry into the different types of losses that physicians and residents experience both within and beyond the clinical environment. In this talk, she will discuss the often-overlooked issue of physician grief and the complex discourses surrounding it. Dr. Burm will challenge conventional understandings of grief, highlighting its many forms and examining the risks and harms suppressing grief can have for those in medical practice and training.
Biography
Dr. Sarah Burm is an Associate Professor and Education Research Scientist in the Office of Continuing Professional Development and Medical Education at Dalhousie University. She holds a PhD in Educational Studies from Western University. A qualitative researcher, her work to date has primarily centered on medical learners and physicians, examining who they are—and who they are becoming—as care providers. Her research explores how this evolving professional identity intersects with, and sometimes conflicts with, other meaningful aspects of who they are as they move through their career. More recently, Dr. Burm’s research has turned toward the study of wellbeing and social connection within the workplace. Her current work examines the often unacknowledged tensions of expressing grief in medicine, while considering the cultural and structural factors that render such experiences invisible. She is also leading an interdisciplinary study with colleagues in medicine, nursing, and education that explores the role of workplace friendship in supporting wellbeing. Her work has been funded by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and Nova Scotia Health.
The Division of Continuing Professional Development, University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine (UBC CPD) is fully accredited by the Continuing Medical Education Accreditation Committee (CACME) to provide CPD credits for physicians. This activity meets the certification criteria of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and has been certified by UBC CPD for up to 15.0 Mainpro+® Certified Activity credits. Each physician should claim only those credits accrued through participation in the activity. CFPC Session ID: 301903-001 to 301903-010. RCPSC ACCREDITATION: The CHES Cutting Edge Speaker Series is a self-approved group learning activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.