Nurse Death Research Paper

Formal Paper- Death
Rosamaria Hernandez
California State University, Fullerton
N305
Lisa Howard-York
November 20, 2016

Certification of authorship: I certify that I am the author of this paper and that any assistance I received in its preparation is fully acknowledged and disclosed in the paper. I have also cited any sources from which I used data, ideas or words, either quoted directly or paraphrased. I certify that this paper was prepared by me specifically for this course.
Signature: Rosamaria Hernandez

Unexpected and untimely patient death is emotionally and psychologically stressful for families, surgeons, and healthcare providers. Nurses experience stressful situations all the time in their workplace. Stress can cause decreased
life satisfaction, the development of mental disorders, the occurrence of stress-related illnesses (cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal disorders, low back pain, headaches), and decreased immunologic functioning result from stress (Pender, 2015). Whether nurses have a difficult patient, difficult families or a code, the most stressful situation by far is dealing with patient death. Caring of the dying, the deceased and the bereaved is part of the nurses’ job but dealing with an unexpected patient’s death can impact a nurse for the rest of their careers. Nurses can experience the feeling of helplessness, guilt and that of on-going distress. Unexpected patient death cannot be controlled, but by understanding more about the reactions to death, it can be possible to minimize negative factors such as feelings of inadequacy, exclusion and role conflicts while facilitating coping, sharing of the experience, personal and professional growth, and other positive outcomes (Kent, et al. 2012). Unexpected patient death can impact a nurse negatively.
Nurses can experience cumulative grief, this occurs as a result of not having the time or opportunity to completely or adequately grieve each individual event and may result in doubts about professional competency and identity, reduced self-esteem and a preoccupation with grief and death (Stayt, L., 2009). The sudden death of a patient can leave a nurse with doubts as to why or how it happened and if they could have prevented the death. Nurses are left with thoughts of doubt such as “Did I miss something?” or “Did I make a mistake?” this affects them when they are required to care for other patients. The nurse is not given proper time to grieve the loss of their patient and therefore cannot
cope. Increasing evidence indicates that witnessing traumatic events, such as death, can have negative consequences, such as flashbacks, poor sleep habits, irritability, and depression (Kellogg., et al. 2014). The stressors of patient death could have a negative effect on the career of the nurse as well as his or her physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Negative patient outcomes have an impact on all nurses in different ways. Nurses may experience depression or sadness after the untimely death of a patient. Theorists have researched how people cope and react to stress, Hans defined stress as “the nonspecific response of the body to any demand made on it.” (Pender, Murdaugh, & Parsons, 2015, p. 178). The effect of a death on a nurse can be best described by Hans Selyes stress model. The nurses’ body goes through three stages of coping. The first is the “alarm reaction” this could be seen when the nurse first finds out that the patient is deceased, the second phase is the “fight or flight” stage, this is when the resistance to the stress is built, the nurse could find other things to occupy his or her mind. Because the nurse does not have time to cope for the loss and maintains a stage of resistance to stress the nurse then moves on to the last stage and reaches an allostatic load, the stage of exhaustion and or burn out created by the wear and tear of the body. Psychosocial mediators can be used to cope and help the nurse prevent an allostatic load. These mediators include social support, hardiness, humor, spirituality and hope. One of the most important mediators that can assist a nurse with the stress of patient death is social support. This support includes emotional support from family, peers and religious organizations. Social support could be used in a clinical setting by having support groups and meetings with management and peers after an unexpected loss of a patient. By providing the nurse with emotional support it allows for time to cope.
This also allows the nurse a relief from the stressful situation and allows the body to return to a homeostatic state. By providing the support system to the nurse we can minimize negative factors such as feelings of inadequacy and help the nurse become a more confident nurse which will then make her or him a better nurse.

References
Kellogg, M., Kellogg, Barker, M., & McCune, N. (2014). The lived experience of pediatric burn nurses following patient death. , 40(6), 297.
Kent, B. Anderson, N. , & Owens, R. (2012). Nurses’ early experiences with patient death: The results of an on-line survey of registered nurses in New Zealand. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 49(10), 1255-1265.
Pender N., Murdough,C.S., & Parsons,M., (2015) Health promotion in nursing practice (7th ed.). San Francisco: Pearson.
Stayt, L. (2009). Death, empathy and self-preservation: The emotional labour of caring for families of the critically ill in adult intensive care. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 18(9),
1267-1275.