Bereavement Care for Dying Patients and Their Families Essay

, ,

Bereavement Care for Dying Patients and Their Families Essay

Dying patients particularly suffering from serious illnesses such as cancer are emotionally vulnerable and thus need palliative care by a professional nurse or doctor. According to (National Palliative Care Standard, 2018) palliative care is a family and person-oriented care offered to a person expecting to die due to an incurable illness. Palliative care primarily focuses on providing relief and improving the quality of life of the dying patient. (Kelley and Morrison, 2015). Bereavement Care for Dying Patients and Their Families Essay.

Moreover to cater on the follow up of the friends and families of the patient bereavement care is recommended. This essay highlights on the spiritual care, bereavement follow up care and self-care in regards to Sophie a dying cancer patient. Usually, the practices of a medical practitioner in palliative care are bound to the provided palliative care code. (Wilson, Ingleton, Gott and Gardiner, 2014)

Question one: spiritual care

In modern-day palliative care spirituality has been recognized as one of the major integral features of palliative care. According to (Pulichalski, 2013) spirituality is a sense of humanity that Individuals seek and express purpose of their lives. Thus it is blatantly clear that patients are in need of an outside connection that encompasses either the clinical professional or a higher more powerful being. In the case of Sophie and other palliative patients I will first employ a humanistic approach by providing a compassionate presence around the palliative cultivating respect and dignity thus enabling them to air their deepest concerns.

Moreover I can employ a pragmatic approach by referring Sophie and other patients to chaplaincy care and other Spiritual care specialists after critically accessing their spiritual needs (Aggar and Ronaldson, 2017)

Question two: bereavement follow up

Grieving the death of a loved can lead to psychological distress (Dowling, 2014).Bereavement Care for Dying Patients and Their Families Essay.  Thus this describes how Sophie’s husband and family are emotionally exposed to stress and depression. Grieving however a multicultural phenomenon ( Sneesby, Satchell, and Good, 2011). In the case of Sophie’s spouse and children I will employ psychodynamic approach by making them understand their loss and helping them cope with the feelings of losing their loved one ( Forte, pazder, hill and Feudtner, 2018)

ORDER A PLAGIARISM -FREE PAPER NOW

Question three: care for self

Caring for dying patients under palliative care can result to self-distress especially when you do not achieve your palliative care goal. However, for me to mitigate self- distress I would have to employ the concept of mindfulness a Buddhist meditative practice (Barker, 2014). This will me to focus on my experiences and allow be to accept and avoid judging my past work experiences (Orellana-Rios et.al, 2018).

References

Amanda L Forte1, Malinda Hill2, Rachel Pazder1 and Chris Feudtner (2018). Bereavement care interventions: A systematic review. ResearchGate. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/8434523_Bereavement_care_interventions_A_systematic_review

Amy S. Kelley and R. Sean Morrison (2015). Palliative Care for the Seriously Ill. US National Library of Medicine. Retrieved from: Bereavement Care for Dying Patients and Their Families Essay.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4671283/

 

Christina M. Puchalski (2013). Spirituality as an essential domain of palliative care: Caring for the whole person. Taylor and Francis Group. Retrieved From: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1179/0969926012Z.00000000028

Kristin K. Barker (2014). Mindfulness meditation: Do-it-yourself medicalization of every moment. Social Science & Medicine. Retrieved from:

http://isiarticles.com/bundles/Article/pre/pdf/31836.pdf

Ludmilla Sneesby, Ruth Satchell, Phillip Good (2011). Death and Dying In Australia: Perceptions of a Sudanese Community. Department of Palliative Care, Calvary Mater Hospital, Newcastle, Australia. Retrieved from: http://journals.sfu.ca/hneh/index.php/hneh/article/viewFile/62/53

M.C. Dowling (2014). Exploring the Experiences of Bereavement and Counselling among Young People who are bereaved. School Of Nursing and Human Sciences Dublin City University. Retrieved from: http://doras.dcu.ie/20215/1/Mairead_Dowling_PhD_Thesis_2014_final.pdf

Orellana-Rios, C. L., Radbruch, L., Kern, M., Regel, Y. U., Anton, A., Sinclair, S., & Schmidt, S. (2018). Mindfulness and compassion-oriented practices at work reduce distress and enhance selfcare of palliative care teams: a mixed-method evaluation of an “on the job “program. BMC palliative care, 17(1), 3. Retrieved from:  Bereavement Care for Dying Patients and Their Families Essay.https://bmcpalliatcare.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12904-017-0219-7

Palliative care Australia (2018). National Palliative Care Standards: 5th Edition – 2018. Retrieved from: http://palliativecare.org.au/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2018/02/PalliativeCare-National-Standards-2018_web-3.pdf

Ronaldson, C. Aggar (2017). Palliative care nurses’ spiritual caring interventions: A conceptual understanding. ResearchGate. Retrieved from:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316816063

Wilson F., Ingleton C., Gott M. & Gardiner C. (2014). Autonomy and choice in palliative care: time for a new model? University of Sheffield. Retrieved from: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/101898/3/Autonomy%2520and%2520choice%2520in%2520palliative%2520care.pdf

Care, the dying, and their families The most important principle that can help to guide people who care for the dying and bereaved is care. Care for the dying and care for the families, this is not to undermine the empathy, support, and understanding that is needed. “All social workers, regardless of practice settings, will inevitably work with clients facing acute or long-term situations involving life-limiting illness, dying, death, grief, and bereavement. Using their expertise in working with populations from varying cultures, ages, socioeconomic status, and nontraditional families, social workers help families across the life span in coping with trauma, suicide, and death, and must be prepared to assess such needs and intervene appropriately’ (Bailey, 2003-2004). This is true not only for Social workers in hospice’s but home care nurses, funeral directors and anyone who cares for the dying and bereaved. The older adult facing the end of life has many decisions to make as well as their families. They may also have psychosocial, spiritual as well as physical issues that need to be addressed. In addition to requiring sensitivity to their culture and religion, perhaps financial decisions may need attention. Compassion, sensitivity, respect, communication, are a few of the principles that govern workers in this field. Political agendas and laws also have an impact on the dying and their families, decisions whether, funding and education are available for the. Bereavement Care for Dying Patients and Their Families Essay.