Dr Richard Smith has written an important report from a conference on suffering at the Royal Society of Medicine in 2020. He references books, articles, rating scales and studies which relate to suffering and medicine.
In this article Dr Smith discusses personhood, how recognising your patient as a person is key to understanding how they are affected by suffering, why clinicians can be wary of recognising suffering but how in responding to suffering they can help relieve it. A lack of recognition can worsen suffering for both patients and healthcare workers.
It is important reading for any doctor dealing with illness, dying and death.