Peer Response

Respond to at least two peers posting and answer the following question:

Can you relate to their experience or personal beliefs? Recommend a resource that is relative to their description of grief and caring for patients.

Peer Post 1

How do your personal beliefs and experiences affect your interaction with a person who is grieving? Consider these beliefs and their impact on your nursing care.

Because “grief is an internal emotional reaction to loss,” not everyone will experience it in the same manner (Taylor, 2021). Some individuals need to be continuously surrounded by others to support them through this process, while others require utter solitude. Both of these approaches are acceptable, as there is no right or wrong way to grieve. Personally, I am a devout Catholic who believes in a life beyond death. I think that after life, we will be at peace with all of the people we have ever loved. Although I do believe in this, I do still struggle with accepting loss and need to grieve in private. This is not something that everyone believes or feels, therefore I keep that in mind when I am interacting with people who are mourning. I aim to understand what others need and what they need to hear, not just what I would like to say or what I believe in. Grief can start even before there is a loss. As a result, as a Nurse, it is critical that we listen empathetically to what the patient or their family wants during this tough time. Some people, for example, wish to be put on life support or placed in hospice care, while others do not want to be put on life support and want to pass in the comfort of their home. As a nurse, it is essential to build a trustworthy connection with the patient and/or their family in order to have a dialogue regarding the patient’s concerns and uncertainties. It is even more critical that we listen without passing judgment in order to ensure that one can pass in the way they or their family prefers. The American Association of Critical Care Nurses advocates adopting a therapeutic communication technique during emotional conversations called the NURSE technique (Oates, 2020). This allows for the nurse to name, understand, respect, support and explore what the patient or their family needs during this time. This can have a beneficial impact on the patient and their family as we are then able to understand exactly what they need or want and try our best to accommodate their wishes.

Have you experienced loss? Identify factors that assist you in coping or dealing with grief.

Yes, I have suffered a loss. My aunt passed away due to cancer two years ago. My mom’s family and I have always been very close. My mom is one of 4 and grew up with the closest relationship to her siblings and their relationships remained even after getting married, moving, and having children of their own.  I will admit that I struggled while dealing with this loss, even though I do believe in a life after death. I struggled even further due to how heartbroken my mother was. I have a tendency to shut down and need to be alone at first when I am upset. This enables me to organize my thoughts, as I have a hard time expressing my whole range of emotions in front of others. Before people tell me what they believe I need to hear, I want to comprehend what I am thinking myself. As stated before, grief, in my opinion, is something that no one goes through in precisely the same way. Nor do I believe that there is a timeline that one should follow when grieving. Some factors that assisted me in dealing with this was spending time alone to collect myself, spending time with my family, keeping a journal about how I felt that particular day and finally I did end up going to a grieving class with my mom to support her and also myself. The class did recommend keeping a journal, which I believe helped greatly.

References

Oates, J. R. (2020, August 11). Nursing grief and loss. StatPearls [Internet]. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK518989/.

Taylor, C., Lynn, P., & Bartlett, J. L. (2021). Fundamentals of nursing: the art and science of person-centered care. Langara College.

Peer 2 Post

Grief is a common reaction to the feeling of loss, and it is considered a physiological and automatic response. The ‘normal’ grief evolves into an ‘integrated’ phase within one year from death. It is a non-pathological condition that does not require specific therapeutic interventions. When this ‘integrated phase’ does not occur, the subject could reach pathological manifestations related to grief. (De Stefano & et al. 2021) My Personal belief has a significant impact on my interaction with a person who is grieving. My personal belief in grief is something I never put into thought. I lost someone when I was 13 years old; I lost my cousin to Leukemia.

Growing up catholic, we are told that the person is sent to heaven, and from there on, they are with Jesus. I was young, I did not get the concept, but as I got older, when a person is grieving, I usually give them their space; when they need someone to talk to, I’m open ears. The second time I experienced a loss was March 2021; I lost my grandfather due to COVID-19. It was very difficult because at the time we couldn’t be with him. My grieving process this time around was different; I was feeling upset, angry with the hospital, and sad. After my grandfather died, my personal belief shifted. As nurses, we must be aware of all the feelings some family members might have, some people may accept what happens, and others may be in denial. When a person is grieving now, I think about what to say to the grieving person; I would be straightforward with them if they need someone to talk to or if they want to be alone. After my grandfather died, I wanted to be alone for a few days to process what happened. As nurses, we are the person they will depend on to help them or set them to the right people.

As mentioned earlier, after my grandfather passed away, I was outraged. A few days before his death, we were told he was doing better and would start to be weaned off the ventilator, it was a long shot, but we had hope. So when they called us that he passed away, we all were mad. Instead of reaching for help or speaking to someone to cope with my anger, I just bottled everything up. I didn’t want anyone to bring up the topic or even to mention my grandfather. As time passed, I began to speak to my sister and mother. Helped with accepting the fact that COVID took many lives, and unfortunately, he was one. Speaking to both helped me cope with the death of my grandfather.

De Stefano, R., Muscatello, M. R. A., Bruno, A., Cedro, C., Mento, C., Zoccali, R. A., & Pandolfo, G. (2021). Complicated grief: A systematic review of the last 20years. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 67(5), 492499. https://doi-org.felician.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/0020764020960202