The Roles Of A Nurse

On reading this article and identifying the study, there was a clear insight on how death and dying, and even improved health, impacted those nurses (Conte, 2014). Nurses, who worked closely with their patients, through the perils and suffering, culminating of death and losses, had grief not readily explored to enable that comfort zone (Conte, 2014).

Death is a universally experienced phenomenon. In the United States alone, over 2.6 million people die each year (Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2015). For practitioners, it is of utmost importance to better understand the process of grief to develop better interventions for bereaved individuals.

This paper explores the emotional differences that people in the health care profession experience when it comes to the death of a patient. It defines the bereavement role, the four tasks of mourning, disenfranchised grief, compassion fatigue and how ambiguity and a lack of social acceptance can lead to decreased quality of patient care. In conclusion, the author offers an opinion of how to better manage the grieving and mourning process of care providers from an industry-wide standpoint.

Death is a part of life and eventually everyone on this earth will experience it. Nurses play an important role in death. Mourning the death of a loved one is something that almost everyone will experience in this lifetime because it is a natural response to death. Bereavement, grief and mourning are all effected by one’s culture, religion, the relationship with the deceased, personality, and how the person died.

Grief and loss are one of the most universal human experiences, though painful, and understandably causes distress. However, approximately 15 % experience a more problematic grieving process with elevated symptoms of depression and/or posttraumatic stress symptoms (Bonanno and Kaltman, 1999).There is no well-established model of the timeline for resolution of grief and the variance of its expression is wide. Many persons cope with the emotional pain of bereavement without any formal intervention. However, individuals who have experienced traumatic bereavement, such as deaths that are sudden, violent, or due to human actions (Green 2000), may face particular challenges. Researchers have tried to define a model for the treatment of traumatic bereavement that fully supports not only the client, but also those working with the clients around their trauma

Normal grief is when an individual’s physical, cognitive, emotional, spiritual, and behavioral responses based on his or her relationship with the person who passed on, would manifest within a certain period of time and allow a degree of closure (Carrington & Bogetz, 2004). Examples of physical symptoms are shortness of breath, increased blood pressure, weakness, and dry mouth; behavioral symptoms – crying, insomnia, restlessness, and social withdrawal; cognitive symptoms – confusion, absent-mindedness, and poor

Grief is the act following the loss of a loved one. While grief and bereavement are normal occurrences, the grief process is a social construct of how someone should behave. The acceptable ways that people grieve change because of this construct. For a time it was not acceptable to grieve; today, however, it is seen as a necessary way to move on from death (Scheid, 2011).The grief process has been described as a multistage event, with each stage lasting for a suggested amount of time to be considered “normal” and reach resolution. The beginning stage of grief is the immediate shock, disbelief, and denial lasting from hours to weeks (Wambach, 1985). The middle stage is the acute mourning phase that can include somatic and emotional turmoil. This stage includes acknowledging the event and processing it on various levels, both mentally and physically. The final stage is a period of

In relation to the purpose of this study, the driving force behind the research are three questions. What are nurses experience following patient’s death? What are their actions and coping strategies following patient death? Would better learning opportunities and supportive practice environments be provided once there is an understanding of nurses’ grief and coping process, if yes, was it beneficial. The researchers proceeded with a broad question which allowed the focus to be sharpened and delineated later in the

There are several distinct meanings of anticipatory grief based on the four resources from non-nursing disciplines in the following explication.

Working with loss, death and bereavement: a guide for social workers, Sage, London. Wimpen. & Costello, J. 2012. Grief, loss and bereavement: evidence and practice for health and social care practitioners, Routledge,

This essay explores several models and theories that discuss the complexities of loss and grief. A discussion of the tasks, reactions and understanding of grief through the different stages from infants to the elderly, will also be attempted.

The bereavement role is defined as temporary in duration and allows the bereaved to be excused from daily responsibilities, to be dependent on others , and adjust to life after the death of a loved one (Leming & Dickinson, 2016, p. 492). The bereavement role can also be seen, for example, when individuals play into the “sick role” (Leming & Dickinson, 2016, p.492). When individuals are sick, they are excused from certain responsibilities for a brief period of time. This can be the same outlook for the bereavement role. Other studies suggest the definition of the bereavement role as a “state of suffering or loss” (Hashim, Eng, Tohit & Wahab, 2013). When an individual is placed in this role due to the death of a loved one, the bereaved individual turns to others for emotional support and gives up their control of responsibilities to others (Leming & Dickinson, 2016,

Cumulative grief is known as a caregiver’s emotional response to many episodes of grief (Shorter & Stayt). The multiple encounters with death give a nurse no opportunity to grieve adequately or completely for each individual patient that has died (Shorter & Stay, 2010). The unresolved grief accumulates and can lead to emotional and physicals problems which can then effect a nurse professionally and personally (Shorter & Stayt, 2010). The effects of cumulative grief include denial, feelings of decreased personal competency, overwhelming grief, low self-esteem, and pre-occupation with death (Shorter & Stayt,

Loss is a phenomenon that is experienced by all. Death is experienced by family members as a unique and elevated form of loss which is modulated by potent stages of grief. Inevitably, everyone will lose someone with whom they had a personal relationship and emotional connection and thus experience an aftermath that can generally be described as grief. Although bereavement, which is defined as a state of sorrow over the death or departure of a loved one, is a universal experience it varies widely across gender, age, and circumstance (definitions.net, 2015). Indeed the formalities and phases associated with bereavement have been recounted and theorized in literature for years. These philosophies are quite diverse but

While bereavement is an external process by which one externally or publicly grieves, mourning is the grieving that happens internally. “Stroebe defined bereavement as a state of loss, triggering a reaction that manifests in a set of behaviors known as mourning,” (Buglass, 2010, 44). There are stages that one goes through when grieving, this is how they emotionally heal after their loss.