Table 3:

Students described their reactions to patients in pain

Students want to relieve patient suffering	“When witnessing pain, the initial ‘gut reaction’ is to do everything you can to make the pain lessen or stop completely; it’s human nature.”
	“I felt desperate to help her. She was in obvious distress, struggling to speak, her eyes clenched shut.”
	“I held her hand for almost 3 hours as she was in pain and her mental status declined before she was intubated.”
	“I was so sad for the patient and worried for her. During the day, I visited her multiple times just to check how she is doing and if the pain has improved in severity.”
	“I felt terrible whenever I saw my patients hurting because I was not as knowledgeable enough in pain management.”
Students are unsure about how to respond to patients in pain	“I so badly wanted to grab her hand, but because it was my first week seeing patients I wasn’t quite sure what was the appropriate action to take.”
	“I have learned to separate my emotions from the pain the patient is experiencing… I am not sure if this is the best approach
	“I think this will be a struggle for me throughout my career in medicine. I hope over the next few years I do not lose my empathy for patient’s suffering and struggles.”
	“We have chosen a field to go into that requires people to go through pain in order to get better. I hope that I will become less affected by it in time.”
Students learn to distance themselves from the pain experienced by patients	“Without separating myself from the patient’s pain, as was common at the beginning of my third year, I could not provide care for the patient.”
	“Typically, I just turn pain into a number on a scale from one to ten and write it in the chart and think about adjusting their narcotic medications. What I don’t typically do is live in their shoes and attempt to understand what the patient is feeling.”
	“It becomes a drain on emotional resources to revisit the same feelings over again. It’s better to just focus on one’s task, especially when the doctor and the patient already have a treatment relationship.”
	“I look at pain control as another problem that needs to be appropriately addressed in order to complete a successful discharge.”