...and Loss: Oncology Nurses Perspectives on Professional Bereavement By: Lara Grinceri, RN Grand Canyon University Background The purpose of this article is to look at the role of Professional Oncology Nurse, their obstacles to care, in terms of grief and loss, and determine possible supportive interventions. [ (Jennifer Wenzel, 2011) ] As the oncology patient population continues to grow, so does the demand for experienced, expertly trained oncology nurses. The role of the oncology nurse is challenged by many outside forces, such as increased workloads, heightened patient acuity and complexity, and repeated contacts with suffering patients and caregivers. [ (Jennifer Wenzel, 2011) ]. Due to the nature of their role, these specialized nurses are a limited resource, and due to the high emotional complexity of their patients, can result in a higher than normal turnover rate. This is often in the form of burn-out or compassion fatigue from the constant interactions with death or dying situations. It is critical for nursing to recognize and identify the emotional, as well as physical, barriers to care, and intervene before burnout or compassion fatigue is able to occur. This study looks at the collaboration of a mid-Atlantic University NCI (National Cancer Institute) teaching hospital and affiliated school of nursing , to research their oncology nursing population, and create a plan to manage work-related bereavement, specific to work settings, and to create a supportive...
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...How the death of a patient can impact on nurses: A literature review During 2012 there were 499,331 deaths registered in England and Wales, a rise of 3.1% compared with 2011. Almost half of these occurred in National Health Service Hospitals. (Office for National Statistics, 2012). These figures indicate a substantial amount of individuals dying in a hospital setting each year, therefore a large proportion of patients will be receiving some form of care prior to and at death (Blackwell 2010 p.1). Numerous research studies have been carried out by theorists identifying the impact of bereavement on different individuals. The earliest thorough study of grief and loss developed from Freud with his classic paper ‘Mourning and Melancholia’ (Freud 1917 cited in Payne et al 1999). Freud believed that for the bereaved to detach from the deceased one must work through their grief by reviewing memories and thoughts of the deceased (Ellman 2010). Other theorists have recently identified death and the importance of understanding it. 'Death is a natural progression from life. Most nurses will be exposed to the physical and emotional effects of this experience as they care for a dying patient. The nurse is taught how to provide support for the patient and family as they proceed through the stages of grief. Often, however the nurse may not realise his or her own need to grieve'. (Brosche 2003 p. 173). Although nurses try to remain professional whilst at work...
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...staff nurse holds in the effective management of the care of the bereaved person. Throughout the author will relate this to the bereavement of a family following the death of a loved one in a care of the elderly setting. In relation to this assignment and because the focus of this assignment is on the staff nurse effectively managing the care of the bereaved person the author will focus on the issue of the importance of good leadership in supporting staff in what could be an emotionally challenging environment. In relation to supporting the staff nurse being able to provide effective care for the patient the author will also be considering the areas of teambuilding and staff development, training and support. It should be remembered that bereavement may occur not just after a death but after any form of loss. Loss is a normal part of everyday life, life involves change and changes often involve an element of loss, (Read, 2002). What is bereavement? Shakespeare once wrote “all that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity”. Death is one of the largest causes of bereavement, although not exclusively. Bereavement is the term used for the emotions and behaviours felt and displayed by a person who has suffered some form of loss, particularly the death of a person close to them or known to them, (Egan, 2003). Coping with bereavement Coping with the emotions and behaviours of a family who have been bereaved can be extremely stressful. If you have cared for...
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...is a pressing need for proactive advance care planning at an earlier point in the illness trajectory. Key words: End-of-life care l Care pathways l Terminal care l Health promotion Michael Allen is Staff Nurse, Chemotherapy Day Unit, Singleton Hospital, Abertawe Bro- Morgannwg University Hospital Board, Swansea, Wales; Tessa Watts is Senior Lecturer, Swansea University, Swansea, SA2 8PP, Wales Correspondence to: Tessa Watts t.watts@swansea.ac.uk End-of-life care (EoLC), a core component of palliative care, is concerned with pre- venting and easing suffering experienced by people facing death. As life draws to its close, the aim is to optimise the quality of living and dying and to facilitate effective family support and coping in bereavement. Thus, at...
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...Hospice Care When a loved one dies, the place of death may have important implications for families’ experience of death and subsequent bereavement, although it may not be the sole factor impacting this experience. (Siden, 2008) Home hospice helps the entire family and family members are encouraged to take an active role in providing supportive care to the patient. In doing so, the family experiences fewer feelings of helplessness and the patient is not relying solely on strangers for all of his/her care. The goal of hospice care is to achieve the best quality of life not only for patients, but also for their families. Enabling death at home, if this is the patient's choice, is often seen as part of ensuring the best possible quality of life. There are hospitals which have a hospice program to give terminally ill patients access to support services and other health care professionals. Many hospitals have a special hospice unit. These units provide intensive medical and psychological support to patients who need aggressive symptom management. Home hospice provides end-of-life care in a setting which is familiar to the patient and their family therefore making their final days more comfortable and beneficial to all. Excellent end-of-life support, in the location of choice, is in itself, an essential aim but my goal is to determine which choice provides the best care for the patient and the family. Palliative care It has been noted that the most common answer to the question...
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...Bereavement The effectiveness of bereavement in hospice surroundings is beneficial to those that are losing a loved one with the emotional support. Bereavement is a combination of therapeutic and social support for the grieving process, (Reid, Field, Payne, & Relf, 2006). People react differently when they are going to or have lost a love one or someone close. The feelings connected to bereavement are numbness, anger, guilt, anxiety, helplessness, relief, and acceptance, (Cutcliffe, 2002). Bereavement is not just tied to a family member dyeing, but it can be when two people are divorcing or if someone close has moved away. Bereavement counseling is important for the person who is going through the grieving process to seek counseling, (Cutcliffe, 2002). The counselor will focus on the client in a therapeutic surrounding by teaching their client how to accept their loss. Counselors will allow the client to work through the pain, provide their client with mental tools to adjust to their surroundings, and teach their client how to control his/her emotions by and allowing him/herself to continue with life, (Cutcliffe, 2002). There are support groups that provide the person who is grieving with mutual support, understanding, and empathy. Some people need to handle their loss with medication because of them being depressed. Medication may also help with those who suffer from insomnia or excessive anxiety. Some people can overcome the grieving process by treating themselves...
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...man needs to sleep, and there comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist. Stewart Alsop Death, dying and bereavement finds a way of impacting everyday living. Images of real or fictional death are often while watching television or movies. Death can impact people on a personal and a cultural level. This essay will entail how cultural attitudes toward dying, death, and bereavement have changed. While examining hospice, the care obtained, and its role in this shift. Cultural attitudes toward dying, death, and bereavement have changed. There are enormous variations across societies and over time in attitudes toward death. Some societies engage in death avoidance while others celebrate the communion between the living and the dead. In the United States there has been an immense change in the process of dying from past centuries to the present. “This change is partly due to a shift in the average age of death and the association of dying with old age” (Aubrey, 2007). It is also caused by a change in the causes of death. At one time most people died from critical illnesses that struck quickly. Now people are more likely to die from a chronic illness that leads to a slow death. The setting for death has also changed. Most deaths in the past occurred in the home. Now death typically takes place in a medical setting such as a hospital or nursing home. Certain people prepare for death by engaging in a life evaluation. A life evaluation is a process of reminiscing over...
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...Interview of a Hospice Chaplin The Duties of a Hospice Chaplin Michell McGill June 25, 2012 BSHS/302 Tami Frye Hospice Care and Hospice Counseling is a growing profession, which is being incorporated in many hospital and doctor’s offices today. Today there are many private companies who provide these services and they employ Chaplains to assist the patient and the families in making many decisions in reference to end of life wishes. There are many misconceptions as to the purpose of Hospices and the services they provide. The Hospice Chaplin can supply services such as emotional comfort, assist with reconciliation, assist with funeral/ memorial service and any other concerns the patients may have. My own misconception was a reason that I felt the need to research and find out more information. There are many ways to interview an agency, telephone calls, personal interview, and email or an investigative interview as a potential client. I choose an email interview because of the work schedule of the Chaplin and our inability to find a convient time for each of us to meet. . Interview of a Human Service Provider Person Interview (and organization) Kimberly Young-Hardin, MDiv, SCC – Providence Hospice Date of Interview Saturday June 25, 2012 Person Conducting the Interview Michell Walter McGill Hello, my name is Michell W...
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...nurses'experience of possible HIV infection after injury and/or exposure on duty L Roets, Ph.D School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Free State LEZiady,M.Soc.Sc School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Free State. Keywords: Nurse, experience, HIV, infection, injury, exposure. Abstract: Curationis 31 (4): 13-23 The purpose of the research was to describe the experience of nurses in the studied hospital who had been exposed to possible HIV infection during injury or exposure on duty. A qualitative phenomenological descriptive study was used to describe the emotions and non-verbal reactions of the twelve participants during two subsequent in-depth interviews. These were conducted post-exposure, and after counselling and prophylactic treatment took place. The nursing staffs from a selected private hospital Were included in the study after exposure of blood and/or human body fluid. After completion of the study, it was found that the exposed staff's experience had two main categories. Firstly, they were grieving for the loss of the concept of being healthy and invincible, blessed with nursing sldlls and definite goals in life. The bereavement process included phases of denial, anger, anxiety and fear, with recurring thoughts regarding the adverse events, as well as acceptance which developed with time. The bereavement process and shock of the exposure had wider consequences to the family, as well as an impact on the working...
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...good and bad. The life expectancy for these individuals is normally six months or less, but sometimes they do live past six months. These patients are encouraged to try and live as much of a normal life as possible and to the fullest as possible as well, they do not have to confined to a bed or stay at home 24/7. A multi-disciplinary team of physicians, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, dietician’s, hospice certified nursing assistants, clergy, therapist and bereavement counselors as well as volunteers who all work together as team to address the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social needs of each and every family member. This care is provided in their own home no matter what age they are or their ability to pay. In addition, hospice also provides medications, equipment, hospital services, and supplies that are related to their terminal illness. A hospice team will provide support, education as well as counseling to family, nursing home staff, as well as nursing home residents that may know the terminal patient and yes hospice is available in a nursing home too. The...
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...(Calman-Hine Report 1998). The essay will also briefly describe three different professional groups involved in providing palliative care. It will then go on to discuss how good communication and collaborative working between these professional can provide the best quality of care of the patient and how poor communication can compromise the patients quality of care. Palliative care can be defined as the overall care of patients whose disease does not respond to curative treatment. The aim of Palliative care is to improve as much as possible the quality of life of patients and their families facing a life-threatening illness. This can be achieved by providing pain and symptom relief, spiritual and psychosocial support from diagnosis to bereavement (WHO 2002). Patients with life threatening illness may require care from a variety of different specialists and services at a number of points in their illness; this will include both statutory and non-statutory organisations (National Health Service Executive 1998). To ensure that all the patient’s requirements are recognised and provided for, care needs to be provided by a range of different professionals all working collaboratively. These individual disciplines are able to consider a patients care from a range of different perspectives enabling the patient and family to obtain the most relevant type of care. Effective inter-professional working is essential for these...
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...Hospice care The goal of hospice is to help patients live their last days as alert and pain-free as possible. Hospice care tries to manage symptoms so that a person's last days may be spent with dignity and quality. Hospice care treats the person rather than the disease; it focuses on quality rather than length of life. Hospice care is family-centered -- it includes the patient and the family in making decisions. This care is planned to cover 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Hospice care can be given in the patient's home, a hospital, nursing home, or private hospice facility. Hospice care is used when you can no longer be helped by curative treatment, and you are expected to live about 6 months or less if the illness runs its usual course. Hospice gives you palliative care, which is treatment to help relieve disease-related symptoms, but not cure the disease; its main purpose is to improve your quality of life. You, your family, and your doctor decide together when hospice care should begin. A team of professionals In most cases, an interdisciplinary health care team manages hospice care. This means that many interacting disciplines work together. Doctors, nurses, social workers, counselors, home health aides, clergy, therapists, and trained volunteers care for you and your family. Each of these people offers support based on their special areas of expertise. Together, they give you and your loved ones complete palliative care aimed at relieving symptoms and giving...
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...grief that nurses experience upon the death of their patient. PROBLEM STATEMENT Grief is an inevitable phenomenon that every human being will eventually experience Cowles and Rodgers (1991). Base of the fact that nurses are in close contact with dying patients, they are vulnerable to the experience of grief. However, the emotional aspect of nurses’ responses to the death of their patients has barely been explored. It is opinionated that the nurse’s own emotional needs are unaddressed due to the fact that most of the studies related to patient’s death focus on the patient’s relatives and significant others. Other researches explore the nurse’s role as one who offers emotional support to the grieving family. Despite the fact that the nursing profession demands that nurses maintain a certain degree of emotional detachment from their patients, nurses may still feel that the death of their patient is their personal loss. Due to the demands of the profession, nurses may have to suppress their grief to respond...
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...population in any kind of healthcare settings. Oncology nurses are in forefront to implement cultural, spiritual and religious compassionate care while caring terminally ill and end-of-life care. Nursing practice to meet the needs of the patients, families and community, require the culturally competent nurses who can reflect sensitivity, knowledge and skills to bring positive outcomes. Although we are able to coordinate with our patients and family requirements broadly to satisfy their basic needs in the unit, further conceptual approach is essential. Ethical committees are on board to regularize the activities of the healthcare professional for understanding and providing supportive care concerning health, illness, death and dying, grief and bereavement the preferences varied in certain situations (Halm et al., 2012, p.337). For example, decision making in life sustaining measures are seems to be complicated until unless it had been decided earlier with poor prognosis of the illness with help of socio-cultural interprofessionals intervention....
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...reflection, we are going to assess the Physical, Psychological and Social Impact of Bereavement on Individuals, look at the different group responses to the bereavement of individuals and the impact and implication of the people in health and social care when an individual is bereaved. 1.1 Explain the impact of significant life events on individuals. Bereavement is the condition of having being deprived of something or someone valued, especially through death. The individual feels yearning, pining and longing for the one who has died. The bereaved feels empty inside. It can greatly impact the way in which a person deals with events in later stages of life. We also call it grief. One of the biggest reasons of grief in humans is the loss of loved ones. The grief can have multifaceted effects on physical, psychological and social behavior of the people. When grief overpowers an individual, he can be adversely affected in various ways. If an individual hears the news of loss of loved ones, this shock causes the adrenal system to release adrenaline steroids in body causing a variety of physical reactions. It can cause physical ailments, nausea, dizziness and vomiting. There is a sudden increase in the blood pressure and stress levels due to the inflammation responses of cytokines. It has also been observed by the scientists that insomnia due to narcolepsy is one of the main physical impacts of bereavement. On the psychological front, it has been shown by the studies that due to...
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