Nursing Paper: Death, Dying, and Grief
Everyone experiences grief and loss of their loved one at one particular moment in their life. People deal with grief differently and depending on the love of the individual. As nurses it becomes a common occurrence to experience loss of the patients while still in practice (Corr et al.,2018). The mainly affected patients are those suffering from terminal illness and thus management ceases to help out.
It is fundamental for all nurses to understand the grief process, how to deal with loss of the patients, and bereavement for the families and loved ones of the patients. Without such knowledge it becomes very challenging for the nurses to cope with death especially when they have been managing them for long. They need to understand that all people handle the issue and differently and thus be there to support them in time of need. The main roles of the nurses during grief and bereavement include; facilitation of the bereavement by assessing the grief process, assisting all patients and their families with matters that concern grief and acceptance of the loss, and supporting the families once they have come to term with their loss.
Grief is the process which families begin to feel the loss of their loved one even before death through the anticipation of the impending aftermath. It is a part of all individual’s process of coming into terms when they lose a patient. There are various stages such as in the dying process that eventually help all people cope and accept the situation as is. Notification and shock is the first stage when individuals learn of the loss and try to accept it. The second step is when individuals experience the loss both emotionally and cognitively (Robben 2017). At that stage people experience emptiness, loss, sadness, and anger. The third and final stage is the acceptance where individuals contemplate the loss and reintegrate their living without the presence of the dead person. It is the phase where healing takes and families are able to adopt and cope.
References
Corr, C. A., Corr, D. M., & Doka, K. J. (2018). Death & dying, life & living. Cengage learning.
Robben, A. C. (Ed.). (2017). Death, mourning, and burial: a cross-cultural reader. John Wiley & Sons.
