Discussion Post: Death, Dying & Grief
When I used to work in acute care setting then I have seen death up close. Patients have asked for help then collapsed and never have made it back. I have performed CPR in many cases in some patient have recovered and then in some their was no recovery.
When I started working in health care field death was a very scary topic as we do not wish death on any of our patients. It was a scary feeling when you had to take care of dying patients have up close experience with death. I had not experienced any personal deaths in family and having my patient dying was the first time I had seen death up close. It has changed my views on death as for people suffering in pain for chronic illness such as cancer. Death is door to get away from the pain.
Death will always be a hard thing for me to accept does not matter its family or a patient. As when we take care of patients, we develop a bond and when you hear them dying it's still a shocked feeling and sense of empathy towards the dying. This is not a place where someone will wake up from their sleep next day. One has to realize that they will never be able to hold or touch their dying family members.
It has gotten some what easier to point where when it expected death, I am not in sense of shock but compare to Someone dying all of sudden. I had heard one of my patients only twenty-three-year-old died due to COVID and Pulmonary embolism. I cannot say if working in health care and seeing death has changed my thought and fear about death. But all I can say depending on the situation of dying my thoughts of shock and empathy might be long lasting or short lasting.
How often do you engage with or witness death in your work? How has this experience or the lack of it shaped your view of death? Has it gotten easier or harder for you to accept the fact of death? As you explain, include your clinical specialty.
The response should include a reference list. Using double-space, Times New Roman 12 pnt font, one-inch margins, and APA style of writing and citations.