These doctors want to break the cycle of shame and blame in medicine

"Bynum, then in his second year of residency training as a family medicine physician, was wrapping up a long shift when he was called into an emergency delivery. To save the baby's life, he used a vacuum device, which applies suction to assist with rapid delivery. The baby emerged unharmed. But the mother suffered a severe vaginal tear that required surgical repair by an obstetrician."

"He is now part of an emerging effort to teach what he describes as "shame competence" to medical school students and practicing physicians. While shame can't be eliminated, Bynum and his research colleagues maintain that related skills and practices can reduce the culture of shame and foster a healthier way to engage with it. Without this approach, they argue, tomorrow's doctors won't recognize and address the emotion in themselves and others."

Will Bynum experienced intense shame after an emergency vacuum-assisted delivery that saved the baby but caused a severe vaginal tear in the mother. He retreated and felt a primitive desire to hide. Shame commonly arises in clinicians and may be amplified by the pressures of medical training. Teaching 'shame competence' to medical students and practicing physicians can provide skills and practices to reduce a culture of shame and promote healthier engagement with the emotion. Failure to address shame risks doctors not recognizing it in themselves or others and transmitting shame to patients, which can provoke defensiveness, isolation, and increased substance use.

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