I think it's definitely something that is overlooked. To treat people like numbers is also a coping mechanism for them. They are bombarded with many different issues and they're expected to know everything about every different situation they're put in. I think it just becomes a coping mechanism for them to treat everything as being in the same situation—this is how we deal with it, this is what the book says, and this is how it is dealt with.
Any kind of training they could take to be able to deal with some of these specific situations would be beneficial.